VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM 


A  SKETCH 


BY 

FRANCIS  DASHWOOD  TANDY 


"  Equality  if  we  Cun  get  it, 
but  liberty  at  any  rale." 

Benj.  R.   Tucker. 


DENVER,   COLORADO: 

FRANCIS    D.    TANDY,   PUBLISHER 

1896 


T3 


TO 

BENJAMIN  R.  TUCKER, 

EDITOR  OF   "LIBERTY," 

WHOSE  LUCID  WRITINGS  AND  SCATHING  CRITICISMS 

HAVE  DONE  SO  MUCH  TO  DISPEL 
THE  CLOUDS  OF    ECONOMIC  SUPERSTITION, 

THIS  LITTLE  BOOK 

IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 

BY  HIS  PUPIL. 


PREFACE. 


"Can't  you  recommend  some  book  which  will  give 
me  a  brief  but  lucid  outline  of  your  ideas?"  is  a  ques- 
tion with  which  every  propagandist  is  familiar.  In 
spite  of  the  extent  and  excellence  of  the  literature 
of  "Voluntaryism,"  I  have  often  found  it  difficult  to 
supply  this  demand.  It  was,  therefore,  with  the 
idea  of  helping  myself  that  I  undertook  to  write 
this  sketch.  But  I  trust  that  my  wo-rk  will  not  prove 
useless  to  others. 

It  was  my  original  intention  to  make  the  book 
so  plain  and  simple,  that  almost  any  one  could  un- 
derstand it.  But  the  intricacies  of  the  subject  are 
very  great.  And,  while  I  have  always  aimed  at 
simplicity  of  expression,  I  fear  that  those  at  least 
who  are  not  familiar  with  the  terms  used  in  eco- 
nomic discussions,  will  find  it  hard  to  follow  me  in 
places. 

I  have  endeavored  to  give  a  complete  outline  of 
the  subject  in  its  most  important  bearings.  If  the 
reader  would  blame  me  for  omitting  some  phases  of 
the  question,  I  must  inform  him  that  the  main  diffi- 
culty with  which  I  have  had  to  contend,  has  been'to 
keep  the  work  within  small  limits.  I  have  done  this  in 


6  PREFACE. 

the  belief  that  a  more  lengthy  document  would  not 
serve  the  purpose  as  well.  The  details  have  been  ad- 
mirably worked  out  by  more  able  hands.  I  have 
merely  gathered  some  fragments  and  blended  them 
together,  in  the  hope  that  some  of  those  into  whose 
hands  they  may  fall,  will  investigate  this  much  mis- 
understood subject  more  fully,  instead  of  condemning 
it  unheard. 

I  gladly  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  thank 
the  friends  who  have  helped  me  with  my  work. 
More  especially  would  I  thank  Mr.  James  H.  Persh- 
ing,  to  whose  assistance  and  criticism  the  first  chap- 
ter owes  whatever  merit  it  may  possess.  His  kind- 
ness in  rendering  this  assistance  is  increased  by  the 
fact  that  he  does  not  agree  with  many  of  the  ideas 
expressed  in  the  subsequent  chapters.  But  it  is  to 
my  wife  that  the  book  owes  most  of  all.  Without 
her  patient  encouragement  it  would  probably  never 
have  been  written,  and  had  I  been  deprived  of  her 
gentle  criticism,  it  would  have  manifested  many 
more  crudities  than  it  now  contains. 

F.  D.  T. 
Denver,  Colo. 

1st  March,  1896. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface. 

Introduction _ _ 9 

J.          Evolution 13 

II.  Egoism 26 

III.  The  State 38 

IV.  Equal  Freedom.. 49 

V.  Defence  of  Person  and  Property _. 62 

VI.  Value  and  Surplus  Value 79 

VII.  Money  and  Interest 93 

VIII.  Mutual  Banks  of  Issue 105 

IX.  Free  Land 123 

X.  Special  Privileges 140 

XI.  Profit... 155 

XII.  Transportation,  Etc 172 

XIII.  Methods 186 

XIV.  The  Prospect _ 202 

A  Few  Books  for  Subsequent  Reading. __ _ 214 

Index...  ..  221 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  is  not  necessary  in  the  present  day  to  begin  a 
book  on  social  reform  with  a  long  and  wearying  dem- 
onstration of  the  fact  that  something  is  radically 
wrong  with  existing  industrial  conditions.  The 
panic  of  1893,  the  subsequent  depression  of  trade 
and  the  tremendous  conflicts  between  capital  and 
labor  have  emphasized  it  more  forcibly  than  the 
longest  array  of  statistics.  Even  the  recent  writ- 
ings of  orthodox  economists,  striving  as  they  do  to 
bolster  up  the  present  system,  admit  that  that  sys- 
tem is  producing  very  bad  results.  Their  sole  argu- 
ment seems  to  be  that  it  is  better  to  submit  to  the 
present  injustice,  than  to  try  remedies  which  are 
likely  to  prove  worse  than  the  disease.  Assuming, 
then,  that  the  present  system  is  bad,  it  becomes  im- 
portant to  discover  wherein  the  evil  lies.  When  this 
is  done,  some  clear  idea  will  be  gained  of  the  direc- 
tion true  reform  should  take,  and  all  proposed 
changes  can  be  intelligently  judged. 

In  order  to  fully  understand  social  questions,  it 
is  necessary  at  the  outset  to  have  a  clear  idea  of  the 
laws  of  development— how  this  world  became  what 
it  is,  how  human  beings  think  and  act  and  how  soci- 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

ety  is  organized.  By  comparing  the  results  of  these 
investigations,  perhaps  some  guiding  principle  may 
be  found,  which  will  indicate  the  lines  upon  which 
the  ideal  state  of  society  must  be  based. 

So  widespread  is  the  existence  of  a  sickly  sen- 
timental ism,  that  it  is  necessary  for  everyone  to  be 
on  his  guard  against  it,  before  undertaking  any 
sociological  enquiry.  A  sympathy  for  the  poverty 
and  wretchedness  of  others  is  a  very  good  thing  and 
often  stimulates  people  to  strive  to  better  social  con- 
ditions. But  it  must  not  be  permitted,  as  it  so  often 
is,  to  influence  the  reasoning  of  the  economist.  Hu- 
man beings  are  very  complex  creatures,  possessed  of 
many  emotions  and  motives  for  action,  all  of  which 
must  be  duly  taken  into  account.  But  the  philoso- 
pher who  is  analysing  human  nature,  must  raise 
himself  above  the  influence  of  those  emotions  and 
regard  his  subjects  as  calmly  as  if  he  himself  had 
not  the  misfortune  to  be  one  of  their  number. 

The  etiquette  of  the  medical  profession  forbids 
a  doctor  to  practice  on  any  member  of  his  immediate 
family.  Perhaps  the  origin  of  this  custom  may  be 
found  in  the  supposition  that  a  man's  sympathies 
are  liable  to  be  too  active  under  such  circumstances, 
and  so  interfere  with  the  full  play  of  his  reasoning 
faculties.  What  would  we  say  of  a  surgeon,  whose 
sentimental  objection  to  amputating  an  arm,  cost  the 
patient  his  life?  This  is  practically  the  position 
taken  by  the  multitude  of  dilettante  reformers,  who 
shrink  from  the  application  of  scientific  principles 


INTRODUCTION.  1 1 

to  human  society,  because  they  appear  cruel  and  re- 
pulsive to  their  narrow  vision.  The  true  student 
must  put  all  such  sentimentalism  from  him  and  ap- 
proach the  subject  in  a  purely  dispassionate  manner. 


CHAPTER  I. 


EVOLUTION. 


The  most  generally  accepted  facts  relating  to  the 
origin  of  the  solar  system,  point  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  once  a  vast,  shapeless  body  of  fiery 
vapor. 

There  was,  no  doubt,  much  motion  among  the 
particles  forming  this  vapor,  and  so  currents,  similar 
to  those  in  the  oceans  to-day,  gradually  developed. 
The  direction  of  these  various  currents  was  prob- 
ably different,  but  there  must  have  been  a  prepon- 
derance of  motion  in  one  direction — from  West  to 
East.  This  motion,  gradually  arresting  all  counter- 
acting motion,  caused  the  whole  to  rotate  in  that  one 
direction  at  an  ever  increasing  speed. 

The  rapid  rotation  caused  the  nebula,  as  such  a 
mass  is  called,  to  assume  a  somewhat  spherical  form, 
and,  acting  as  centrifugal  force  (the  force  which 
causes  a  wet  wheel  to  cast  off  drops  of  water  when 
it  is  rotating  rapidly),  caused  it  to  bulge  at  its  equa- 
tor and  to  become  flattened  at  its  poles.  Meanwhile 
heat  was  radiating  in  every  direction  and  resulted  in 
the  contraction  of  the  whole.  The  poles  of  the  neb- 
ula "became  more  and  more  flattened,  and  its  equa- 
torial zone  protruded  more  and  more,  until  at  last 


14  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

tin-  centrifugal  tendency  at  the  equator  became 
mvator  than  the  force  of  gravity  at  that  place.  Then 
tlu«  bulging  equatorial  zone,  no  longer  able  to  keep 
pare  with  the  rest  of  the  mass  in  its  contraction,  was 
left  behind  as  a  detached  ring,  girdling,  at  a  small 
but  steadily  increasing  distance  the  retreating  central 
mass/'  (Fiske,  Cosmic  Philosophy,  v.  1,  p.  361.) 

The  inequalities  of  the  density  of  this  ring  caused 
the  molecules  to  be  attracted  to  one  or  more  centres, 
subsequently  causing  the  ring  to  break  into  several 
portions  of  unequal  weight.  As  these  revolved 
around  the  parent  mass  in  the  same  plane,  the  at- 
traction of  the  smaller  portions  to  the  greater  ulti- 
mately formed  them  into  one  body,  which  contin- 
ued to  revolve  in  its  orbit  as  well  as  to  rotate  on  its 
own  axis. 

These  same  forces  were  now  at  work  to  cause 
this  mass  in  its  turn  to  cast  off  smaller  rings,  which 
followed  a  similar  course  of  development.  Mean- 
while the  parent  mass  was  preparing  to  cast  another 
ring  off  into  space,  to  commence  an  individual  exist- 
ence of  its  own.  In  this  manner  the  planets  and 
their  satelites  were  most  probably  formed. 

Of  all  the  various  bodies  of  matter  floating 
around  in  space,  the  smallest  naturally  cooled  the 
quickest.  Thus  we  find  the  Sun  still  in  a  molten 
condition.  Jupiter  and  the  other  large  planets  are 
cooler,  but  still  in  a  partly  self-luminous  state. 
Saturn,  surrounded  by  his  rings,  and  the  belt  of  more 
than  a  hundred  asteroids  between  the  orbits  of  Mars 
and  Jupiter,  show  us  possibly  the  manner  in  which 
the  rings  were  first  cast  off  and  afterwards  broken 
into  smaller  pieces.  We  find  the  Earth  and  possibly 
Mars  sufficiently  cool  to  be  able  to  support  life  on  a 
hardened  crust,  and  the  Moon  entirely  burnt  out, 
warning  us  of  the  condition  to  which  all  planets  will 


EVOLUTION.  15 

eventually  conie.  Just  as  they  have  evolved  from 
the  molten,  gaseous  condition  of  the  nebula,  gradu- 
ally cooling  and  developing  conditions  favorable  to 
the  maintenance  of  teeming  life,  so  will  they  prob- 
ably continue  to  cool  until  they  become  dead  worlds 
on  which  no  life  can  exist,  each  revolving  in  its  orbit, 
useless,  lifeless  cinders  floating  onward,  mere  mon- 
uments of  departed  glory.  Perchance,  this  solemn 
procession  coming  in  collision  with  some  other  sys- 
tem, will,  by  reason  of  the  heat  thus  generated,  re- 
sult in  the  total  annihilation  of  both,  resolving  them 
back  into  their  original  atoms,  ready  to  start  once 
more  upon  another  cycle  of  development  and  decay. — 
Such  is  the  "Purpose  of  Nature!" 

The  gradual  cooling  of  the  Earth  caused  a  hard 
crust  to  form  and  the  shrinkage  of  the  mass  crushed 
and  crumpled  that  crust  into  the  most  irregular 
form.  This  irregularity  was  intensified  by  the  mass 
cooling  more  slowly  in  some  places  than  in  others. 
Atmosphere  and  water,  frost  and  hurricane  working 
from  without,  and  igneous  agencies  operating  from 
within,  have  gradually  modified  the  original  surface. 
Thus  were  mountains  and  continents  raised  up  in 
some  places,  lakes  and  oceans  formed  in  others. 
Here,  the  land  worn  away  and  deposited  in  minute 
particles  at  the  bottom  of  rivers  and  seas;  there, 
places,  formerly  covered  with  water,  upheaved  and 
appearing  as  dry  land  once  more.  These  incessant 
conflicts  between  the  forces  of  nature,  have  brought 
order  out  of  chaos,  have  evolved  the  Earth  out  of 
the  nebula. 

When,  where  and  how  life  first  originated  is,  and 
perhaps  ever  will  be,  unknown.  Some  say  at  least 
one  hundred  million  years,  some  not  more  than 
thirty  million,  have  elapsed  since  it  first  appeared. 
Some  claim  that  it  originated  in  the  tropics, '  others 


l6  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

in  the  polar  regions.  About  all  that  we  do  know  is 
tluit  ii  tirsi  appeared  in  its  simplest  form  as  a  par- 
ticle «»!'  plasma.  So  simple  is  this  form  that  it  may 
be  said  to  be  neither  animal  nor  vegetable,  but  the 
parent  of  both.  Nor  is  the  question  of  how  the  living 
actually  evolved  out  of  the  non-living  any  more  defin- 
itely settled.  Yet  a  belief  that  such  a  transformation 
actually  did  take  place,  and  that  by  means  of  purely 
natural  agencies,  is  fairly  prevalent  in  the  scientific 
world.  Prof.  Huxley  says,  "If  it  were  given  me  to 
look  beyond  the  abyss  of  geologically  recorded  time 
to  the  still  more  remote  period  when  the  Earth  was 
passing  through  physical  and  chemical  conditions, 
which  it  can  no  more  see  again  than  a  man  may  re- 
call his  infancy,  I  should  expect  to  be  a  witness  of 
the  evolution  of  the  living  protoplasm  from  non- 
living matter." 

So  closely  allied  is  the  non  living  to  the  living  that 
it  is  often  difficult  to  determine  to  which  class  some 
forms  of  matter  belong.  Deep  sea  ooze  is  a  good  ex- 
ample of  this.  Scientists  have  not  yet  discovered 
positively  whether  it  is  living  or  not.  If  it  is  discov- 
ered to  be  living,  the  investigations  now  being 
made  may  throw  much  light  upon  the  genesis  of 
life.  But  "while  .  .  .  the  mode  in  which  proto- 
plasm must  have  arisen  may  by  and  by  be  partially 
comprehended,  it  is  at  the  same  time  true  that  the  ul- 
timate mystery — the  association  of  vital  properties 
writh  the  enormously  complex  chemical  compound 
known  as  protoplasm — remains  unsolved.  Why  the 
substance  protoplasm  should  manifest  sundry  prop- 
erties which  are  not  manifested  by  any  of  its  constitu- 
ent substances,  we  do  not  know;  and  very  likely  we 
shall  never  know.  But  whether  the  mystery  be  for- 
ever insoluble  or  not,  it  can  in  no  wise  be  regarded 
as  a  solitary  mystery.  It  is  equally  mysterious  that 


EVOLUTION.  17 

starch  or  sugar  or  alcohol  should  manifest  properties 
not  displayed  by  their  elements,  oxygen,  hydrogen 
and  carbon,  when  imcoinbined.  It  is  equally  mys- 
terious that  a  silvery  metal  and  a  suffocating  gas 
should  by  their  union  become  transformed  into  table 
salt.  Yet,  however  mysterious,  the  fact  remains  that 
one  result  of  every  chemical  synthesis  is  the  mani- 
festation of  a  new  set  of  properties.  The  case  of 
living  matter  or  protoplasm  is  in  no  wise  excep- 
tional."* (Fiske,  Cosmic  Philosophy,  v.  1,  p.  435.) 

When,  iii  the  development  of  any  organism,  the 
original  cell  grows  to  a  certain  size  "the  force  of 
cohesion  is  overcome  by  the  release  of  energy  derived 
from  the  food,  and  the  cell  divides  equally  at  the 
kernel  or  nucleus."  (Clodd,  Story  of  Creation,  p.  85.) 

The  next  stage  of  development  is  reached  when 
the  two  cells  after  dividing  remain  together  for 
their  mutual  advantage.  Subsequently,  as  the  cells 
continue  to  divide,  groups  of  four,  eight,  sixteen, 
thirty-two  are  developed.  And  so  the  process  con- 
tinues until  a  large  mass  of  individual  cells  is 
formed.  Gradually  the  union  between  these  cells 
becomes  closer,  slowly  "the  division  of  labor"  among 
them  and  the  consequent  arrangement  of  their  rel- 
ative locations  blend  the  whole  into  a  relatively 
complex  organism. 

The  history  of  the  individual  is  the  miniature  of 
life  history  from  monera  up  to  man.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary here  to  trace  all  the  steps  of  this  development, 
but  rather  to  show  the  process  by  which  that  devel- 
opment has  been  attained.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 


*  The   old    idea    of    the    existence    of   a    distinct    "vital 
force"    has   long   been  abandoned   by   the   scientific   world. 
Now,   however,  there  seems  to  be  a  tendency  to  recognize 
what  may  be  termed  "a  theory  of  neo-vitalism." 
2 


18  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

while  the  earlier  and  simpler  forms  are  still  in  exis- 
tence, many  of  the  intermediate  forms  have  entirely 
disappeared,  leaving  no  trace  that  has  yet  been 
found.  One  by  one,  however,  the  gaps  are  being 
filled  up  as  the  palaeontologist  extends  his  researches 
further  among  the  fossil-bearing  rocks  of  the  world. 
So  we  may  hope  that  many  of  the  "missing  links" 
will  ultimately  be  discovered. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  progress  is  in  one 
straight  line.  On  the  contrary,  its  directions  are  in- 
numerable. Starting  from  a  common  stem,  life  di- 
vides into  two  great  branches,  animal  and  vegetable. 
Each  of  these  divides  into  numerous  smaller 
branches,  which  divide  again  and  again,  forming 
the  various  genera,  species  and  varieties  which  we 
find  to-day.  We  no  more  find  that  the  lowest  forms 
of  animals  are  developed  from  the  highest  forms  of 
vegetables,  than  we  find  man  descended  from  mon- 
keys. What  we  do  find  is  that  the  lowest  forms  of 
both  animals  and  vegetables  are  so  nearly  allied  that 
it  is  often  difficult  to  tell  to  which  class  they  belong, 
and  that  the  difference  between  them  increases  the 
higher  they  ascend  in  the  scale  of  life. 

In  the  simplest  forms  of  life  the  cell  divides  into 
two  as  soon  as  it  grows  to  a  certain  size.  Each  of 
these  two  cells  undergoes  a  similar  operation.  So 
the  number  of  cells  increases  in  a  geometrical  ratio, 
and  would  in  course  of  time  fill  the  whole  universe 
if  there  were  nothing  to  prevent  them  from  doing 
so.  The  cause  of  their  growth  is  the  food  they  as- 
similate. Consequently  the  extent  of  their  multipli- 
cation is  limited  by  the  supply  of  food  obtainable. 
From  this  it  naturally  follows,  that  those  who  are 
able  to  obtain  the  most  food  will  multiply  the  fast- 
est. Any  characteristic  which  enabled  the  cell,  or 


KVOIyUTION.  19 

group  of  cells,  to  obtain  food  to  better  advantage 
than  its  fellows,  would  naturally  be  manifest  in  those 
into  which  it  divided. 

This  same  principle  applies  to  higher  forms  of 
life.  Those  individuals  which  can  obtain  the  most 
food,  other  things  being  equal,  will  be  the  strongest, 
live  longest  and  beget  most  offspring.  So  also  any 
characteristic  which  enables  an  individual  to  eat  and 
digest  any  form  of  food  which  has  not  hitherto  been 
utilized,  will  give  that  individual  a  better  chance  of 
existence.  It  is  easy  to  understand  how,  by  the 
preservation  and  accumulation  of  favorable  varia- 
tions, different  characteristics  may  be  developed 
simultaneously  in  different  individuals  and  result  in 
the  existence  of  many  various  species. 

While  the  obtaining  of  food  is  of  primary  impor- 
tance to  the  preservation  of  life,  and  consequently 
one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  evolution,  there  are 
other  factors  which  are  scarcely  less  important; 
prominent  among  these  is  the  ability  to  escape  from 
accidents  and  enemies.  It  is  difficult  to  fully  ap- 
preciate the  importance  of  these  factors  until  we  re- 
alize that  all  nature  is  at  war  with  itself.  Those  ani- 
mals which  do  not  live  by  eating  others,  maintain 
their  existence  at  the  expense  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  which  in  turn  derives  its  nourishment  from 
inorganic  substance.  We  perpetually  find  some  spe- 
cies developing  the  most  marvelous  characteristics 
to  enable  it  to  catch  its  prey,  and  the  prey  develop- 
ing characteristics  no  less  marvelous  to  enable  it  to 
escape. 

Keen  as  is  the  competition  between  different 
species,  it  is  only  among  individuals  and  varieties  of 
the  same  species  that  it  is  most  intense.  This  is  only 
what  might  be  expected  when  we  consider  the  vast 
number  of  individuals  that  come  into  existence,  only 


20  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

a  few  of  which  can  possibly  survive  on  account  of 
the  lack  of  food.  This  is  merely  the  Malthusian  the- 
ory of  population  applied  to  the  lower  creation.  Dar- 
win  tells  us  that  it  was  by  reading  Malthus's  work 
that  he  finally  discovered  the  keynote  of  evolution. 
(See  Darwin's  Life  and  Letters,  v.  1,  p.  68;  also 
Ilaeckol,  History  of  Creation,  v.  1,  p.  134.)  The  his- 
tory of  development  is  the  history  of  the  strong  over- 
coming the  weak,  and  thrusting  them  remorselessly 
aside  in  the  struggle  for  life. 

When  the  individuals  reach  maturity  another 
phase  of  the  struggle  becomes  manifest  in  the  compe- 
tition for  sexual  mates.  Here  again  those  who 
have  received  most  nourishment  will  probably  be 
most  successful.  Should  the  weaker  secure  mates 
at  all,  they  will  have  less  vitality  to  impart  to  their 
offspring,  who,  in  consequence,  will  be  most  likely  to 
perish  in  the  struggle  for  life  when  their  turn  comes. 
Thus,  by  perpetually  weeding  out  those  individuals 
who  are  least  capable  of  adapting  themselves  to  their 
environment,  the  ability  of  the  whole  species  to 
adapt  itself  is  increased  each  generation.  It  is  im- 
portant to  note  that  this  end  is  not  brought  about  by 
the  individual  cultivating  characteristics  which  are 
beneficial  to  the  species,  but  by  the  individual  devel- 
oping characteristics  which  enable  him  to  overcome 
his  fellow  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  By  the  kill- 
ing of  the  unfit  and  the  preservation  of  those  who 
possess  favorable  variations,  the  characteristics 
which  have  been  beneficial  to  the  individuals  become 
of  benefit  to  the  species.  Such  characteristics  are, 
and  can  be,  beneficial  to  the  species  only  in  so  far  as 
they  are  beneficial  to  the  individuals  which  com- 
pose that  species. 

These  are  the  factors  in  evolution  which  Darwin 
calls  natural  and  sexual  selection.  These  terms  are 


EVOLUTION.  2 1 

peifectly  correct  wheii  Darwin's  explanation  of 
them  is  borne  in  mind.  (See  Origin  of  Species,  Chap. 
IV.)  Yet,  such  is  the  prevalent  looseness  of  think- 
ing and  lax  use  of  terms  that  many  gather  an  en- 
tirely false  impression  from  them.  Darwin  used 
these  terms  in  order  to  point  out  the  analogy  between 
the  factors  and  the  selection  practiced  by  the  human 
breeder.  But  he  cautions  us  that  it  is  only  an  anal- 
ogy. Many  have  neglected  his  warning  and  have  at- 
tached the  same  meaning  to  the  word,  selection,  in 
both  cases.  The  human  breeder  often  selects  one 
peculiarity  and  develops  that  regardless  of  its  utility 
to  the  individual.  With  natural  selection  such  a 
thing  is  impossible.  Nothing  is  primarily  developed 
except  for  its  utility.  Even  a  favorable  variation 
may  be  lost  on  account  of  the  existence  of  other  un- 
favorable characteristics  in  the  same  individuals, 
thus  rendering  them  less  likely  to  survive  when  all 
things  are  considered.  On  the  one  hand  we  see  the 
effect  of  an  intelligent,  conscious  selection,  on  the 
other,  nothing  but  the  working  of  a  blind,  purpose- 
less force. 

The  term  "Survival  of  the  fittest"— first  used  by 
Spencer  and  afterwards  endorsed  by  Darwin — is  in 
many  respects  more  exact,  but  even  it  is  not  proof 
against  the  carelessness  of  the  untrained  mind.  A 
large  number  of  people  think  that  the  "fittest"  are 
those  individuals  who  best  conform  to  their  stand- 
ard of  ethics.  The  word  is  only  used  to  signify  those 
who  can  best  adapt  themselves  to  their  environ- 
ment. It  is  easy  to  see  that  in  a  country  where  food 
is  scarce  those  individuals  who  had  religious  objec- 
tions to  killing  and  eating  their  aged  parents  would 
stand  a  poorer  chance  of  surviving  than  their  less 
punctilious  brethren.  In  this  case  the  cannibals 


22  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

would  be  the  fittest  to  survive,  while,  judged  from  our 
ethical  standpoint,  the  others  would  probably  be 
considered  more  moral. 

Though  the  doctrine  of  evolution  does  directly 
promise  to  produce  a  more  perfect  adaptation  of  a 
species  to  its  environment,  it  in  no  way  assures  us 
of  continued  progress,  that  is  an  increase  of  com- 
plexity. Spencer  says  "If  in  the  case  of  the  living 
aggregates  forming  a  species  the  environing  actions 
remain  constant,  the  species  remains  constant.  If 
those  actions  change,  the  species  change  until  it  is  in 
adjustment  with  them.  But  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  this  change  in  the  species  constitutes  a  step  in 
evolution."  *  (Principles  of  Sociology.) 

Degeneration  is  so  important  a  factor  in  evolu- 
tion that  Ray  Lankester  has  seen  fit  to  write  a  book 
on  that  subject  alone.  Evidence  of  it  is  found  in 
very  many  species  and  even  in  the  human  race.  The 
Bushmen  and  the  Fuegians  are  examples  of  its  force, 
as  is  also  the  Chinese  Empire.  Max  Nordau  would 
even  have  us  believe  that  the  whole  human  race — 
except  of  course  Max  Nordau — is  suffering  from  the 
same  complaint. 

The  survival  of  the  fittest  must  of  necessity  re- 
main inoperative  until  a  certain  amount  of  variation 
exists.  If  all  individuals  were  alike  there  could  be 
no  "fittest"  to  survive.  The  smaller  the  amount  of 
this  variation,  the  slower  must  the  change  be.  Thus 
the  species  which  manifests  the  greatest  variety 
among  its  individuals  is  most  likely  to  adapt  itself 

*  The  first  part  of  this  quotation  is  possibly  open  to 
criticism.  The  followers  of  Weismann,  who  are  now  carry- 
ing- on  such  an  animated  controversy  with  Spencer,  assert 
that  no  forms  of  life  except  the  very  lowest  can  "remain 
constant."  If  they  do  not  progress  they  must  degenerate. 
But  as  Spencer's  position  is  the  more  conservative,  it  is 
safe  to  use  this  quotation  in  this  connection. 


EVOLUTION.  23 

quickly  to  changed  conditions.  Any  species  in  which 
variation  is  unknown  and  which  has  become  a  fixed 
type  must  suffer  total  extinction  if  its  environments 
change.  The  only  reason  the  lowest  forms  of  life 
have  continued  to  exist,  in  spite  of  almost  universal 
change,  is  that  the  changed  conditions  do  not  affect 
their  limited  environments  and  so  "the  species  re- 
mains constant." 

Selection  pre-supposes  variation  and  operates  only 
through  the  most  relentless  competition.  By  the 
extinction  of  those  individuals  which  are  least  able 
to  adapt  themselves  to  their  environment,  the  species 
develops  those  characteristics  which  have  proved 
beneficial  to  the  surviving  individuals. 

Applying  these  conclusions  to  social  reform,  we 
see  that  permanent  improvement  in  human  society 
can  only  be  found  under  conditions  which  are  favor- 
able to  the  development  of  different  characteristics 
among  its  members,  which  recognize  the  welfare  of 
the  individual  to  be  of  paramount  importance  and 
which  foster  the  freest  competition  in  order  that 
that  welfare  may  become  general. 

The  foolish  philanthropy  so  prevalent  to-day, 
which  wrould  prevent  the  pro-creation  of  the  unfit  and 
which  seeks  to  lessen  competition,  must  be  unquali- 
fiedly condemned.  To  limit  the  number  of  births, 
even  of  criminals,  is  to  limit  the  variation  of  the  spe- 
cies. Any  such  action  makes  the  perfect  adaptation 
of  us  to  our  environments  less  speedy  and  less  sure. 
The  wider  the  variation  the  greater  chance  is  there 
for  the  production  of  favorable  types.  Then  compe- 
tition is  absolutely  essential  in  order  to  weed  out  the 
unfit  and  to  make  the  variation  beneficial  to  the  race. 
It  is  impossible  for  a  few  self -conceited  lady  novel- 
ists to  tell  what  individuals  will  prove  the  fittest,  or 
what  combination  is  necessary  to  produce  such  indi- 


24  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

vidiials.  IT  the  teachings  of  evolution  are  true,  all 
external  force  which  limits  the  pro-creation  of  any 
individuals— whether  good  or  bad — or  restricts  com- 
petition must  result  disastrously  to  the  human  race. 

From  this  standpoint  the  present  social  system 
is  condemned  on  every  hand.  It  places  a  special 
premium  upon  one  characteristic— the  ability  to  get 
money— at  the  expense  of  every  other.  It  fosters  a 
spirit  of  self-sacrificing  patriotism  and  so  places  the 
welfare  of  the  country  above  that  of  the  individual. 
It  denies  the  first  essential  of  free  competition — the 
right  of  every  individual  to  the  free  use  of  the  earth 
—and  hedges  us  around  with  restrictions  of  all  kinds. 
Unfortunately  most  of  the  proposed  reforms  seek  to 
intensify  these  evils  instead  of  to  remove  them. 

In  this  outline  of  evolution  the  factor  of  "use-in- 
heritance" (that  is,  the  transmission  of  acquired  char- 
acteristics to  offspring)  has  not  been  mentioned  be- 
cause it  is  still  under  discussion.  Spencer,  Darwin 
when  he  lived,  and  many  other  biologists  of  note 
maintain  that  acquired  characteristics  are  transmit- 
ted to  offspring.  Weismann  and  many  others  of 
prominence  contend  that  only  congenital  characteris- 
tics are  capable  of  transmission.  If  the  position 
held  by  Spencer  is  correct,  the  conclusions  I  have 
reached  are  fully  justified.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
opponents  gain  the  day,  my  arguments  are  re-en- 
forced by  their  victory.  William  P.  Ball  concludes 
his  book  on  use-inheritance  in  the  following  words: 
"The  effects  of  use  and  disuse— rightly  directed  by 
education  in  its  widest  sense — must  of  course  be 
called  in  to  secure  the  highly  essential  but  neverthe- 
less superficial,  limited,  and  partly  deceptive  improve- 
ment of  individuals  and  of  social  manners  and  meth- 
ods; but  as  this  artificial  development  @f  already  ex- 
isting potentialities  does  not  directly  or  readily  tend 


EVOLUTION.  25 

to  become  congenital,  it  is  evident  that  some  consid- 
erable amount  of  natural  or  artificial  selection  of  the 
more  favorable  varying  individuals  will  still  be  the 
only  means  of  securing  the  race  against  the  constant 
tendency  to  degeneration,  which  would  ultimately 
swallow  up  all  the  advantages  of  civilization.  The 
selective  influences  by  which  our  present  high  level 
has  been  reached  and  maintained  may  well  be  modi- 
fied, but  they  must  not  be  abandoned  or  reversed  in 
the  rash  expectation  that  State  education,  or  State 
feeding  of  children,  or  State  housing  of  the  poor,  or 
any  amount  of  State  socialism  or  public  or  private 
philanthropy,  will  prove  permanently  satisfactory 
substitutes.  If  ruinous  deterioration  and  other  more 
immediate  evils  are  to  be  avoided,  the  race  must  still 
be  to  the  swift  and  the  battle  to  the  strong.  The 
healthy  individualism  so  earnestly  championed  by 
Mr.  Spencer  must  be  allowed  free  play.  Open  com- 
petition, as  Darwin  teaches,  with  its  survival  and 
multiplication  of  the  fittest,  must  be  allowed  to  de- 
cide the  battle  of  life  independently  of  a  foolish  be- 
nevolence that  prefers  the  elaborate  cultivation  and 
multiplication  of  weeds  to  growth  of  corn  and  roses. 
We  are  trustees  for  the  countless  generations  of  the 
future.  If  we  are  wise  we  shall  trust  to  the  great 
ruling  truths  that  we  assuredly  know  rather  than  to 
the  seductive  claims  of  an  alleged  factor  of  evolu- 
tion for  which  no  satisfactory  evidence  can  be  pro- 
duced/' (Ball,  Are  the  Effects  of  Use  and  Disuse 
Inherited?) 


CHAPTER  II. 


EGOISM. 


The  habits  of  the  lower  animals,  the  growth  and 
development  of  plants  and  the  motion  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  may  all  be  generalized,  and  the  laws  in  ac- 
cordance with  which  they  act  may  be  stated.  May 
not  the  motives  of  human  action  be  also  subject  to 
generalization?  This  is  a  question  to  which  the  old 
school  of  philosophers  gives  a  negative,  the  modern 
school,  an  affirmative  answer. 

The  fact  that  a  person  reads  or  writes  a  book  de- 
voted to  social  science  pre-supposes  an  agreement 
with  the  modern  idea.  It  is  only  when  human  action 
is  generalized  that  a  science  of  society  can  be  found 
possible.  Such  a  science  must  consist  of  generaliza- 
tions of  human  action  and  deductions  from  those  gen- 
eralizations. If  men  are  "free  moral  agents,"  that 
is,  if  they  can  act  of  their  own  volition  regardless  of 
the  rest  of  the  universe,  any  generalization  of  their 
actions  is  impossible.  Even  if  under  such  conditions 
any  general  statement  of  their  past  actions  could  be 
made,  it  would  be  valueless,  for  there  would  be  no 
guarantee  that  they  would  again  act  in  a  similar 


EGOISM.  27 

manner  under  similar  circumstances.  Anyone  that 
admits  the  possibility  of  a  social  science  is  thereby 
committed  to  the  doctrine  of  necessity,  that  is,  that 
a  certain  individual,  placed  in  certain  environments, 
of  necessity  acts  in  a  certain  manner.  This  being 
assumed,  it  becomes  of  the  very  first  importance  to 
discover  the  fundamental  law  of  human  action,  for 
on  this  law  all  sound  theories  of  social  reform  must 
depend. 

The  Theist  declares  that  we  should  always  act  in 
accordance  with  the  commands  of  God.  Admitting, 
for  the  sake  of  argument,  the  existence  of  God,  why 
should  we  obey  Him?  Immediately  the  answer  sug- 
gests itself.  God  being  the  supreme  ruler  of  the 
universe,  it  is  the  height  of  folly  to  antagonize  Him. 
He  can  heap  disasters  from  which  there  is  no  escape 
on  those  who  disobey  Him,  and  is  capable  of  reward- 
ing with  eternal  joy  those  who  uphold  His  honor  and 
glory.  We  must  obey  the  commands  of  God  and  deny 
ourselves  in  this  life,  in  order  that  we  may  reap  joys 
eternal.  "Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon 
the  earth;  where  rust  and  moth  doth  corrupt,  and 
where  thieves  break  through  and  steal:  but  lay  up 
for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven;  where  neither 
rust  nor  moth  do  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not 
break  through  and  steal."  (Matthew  vi.,  19  and  20.) 
This  is  the  essence  of  the  Christian  religion. 

The  Altruist  maintains  that  we  should  love  our 
fellow  man  and  act  for  his  good.  If  we  love  our  fel- 
low man,  the  sight  of  pain  in  him  will  make  us  un- 
happy and  his  happiness  will  cause  us  pleasure.  So 
we  proceed  to  ameliorate  his  pain  and  increase  his 
happiness  in  order  that  we  ourselves  may  be  happy. 
But  why  should  I  love  my  fellow  man?  If  I  don't 
love  him  or  feel  badly  when  he  suffers,  I  certainly 


2b  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

will  not  put  myself  to  the  trouble  of  helping  him, 
unless  1  know  that  he  will  help  me  in  turn  when  I 
shall  iH'od  it. 

"You  should  act  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  com- 
munity," says  another.  Why  should  you,  except  in 
so  far  as  the  good  of  the  community  is  liable  to  result 
in  good  to  you?  Even  if  you  owe  the  community  any- 
thing, why  should  you  pay?  Still  the  same  answer, 
"II  you  don't  it  will  be  the  worse  for  you." 

But  now  up  comes  another  and  says,  "You  must 
act  from  a  sense  of  duty."  uutytowhom?  To  God? 
I  owe  Him  only  such  obedience  as  He  gains  through 
my  fear  of  punishment  or  hope  of  reward.  To  my 
neighbor?  What  do  I  owe  him?  Only  that  considera- 
tion which  we  agree  to  accord  each  other  for  our  mu- 
tual good.  To  society?  To  my  family?  To  the  state? 
The  same  answer  applies.  Turn  which  way  you  will, 
the  idea  of  duty  entirely  disappears. 

John  Stuart  Mills  says,  "The  internal  sanction  of 
duty,  whatever  our  standard  of  duty  may  be,  is 
.  .  .  a  feeling  in  our  own  mind;  a  pain,  more  or 
less  intense,  attendant  on  violations  of  duty,  which 
in  properly  cultivated  moral  natures  rises,  in  the  most 
serious  cases,  into  shrinking  from  it  as  an  impossi- 
bility. .  .  .  Its  binding  force,  however,  consists 
in  the  existence  of  a  mass  of  feelings  which  must  be 
broken  through  in  order  to  do  what  violates  our  stand- 
ard of  right,  and  which,  if  we  do  nevertheless  violate 
that  standard,  will  probably  have  to  be  encountered 
afterwards  in  the  form  of  remorse."  (Utilitarianism, 
pp.  67-68.)  Thus  there  are  two  forces  which  cause 
us  to  pursue  a  right  course  of  action,  the  external 
force  or  fear  of  retaliation,  and  the  internal  force  or 
fear  of  our  conscience. 

The  conscience  has  been  considered  by  many  as 
the  distinctive  attribute  of  man— the  spark  divine  in 


EGOISM.  29 

the  human  breast.  Darwiii,  however,  found  many 
evidences  of  it  in  the  lower  animals.  Really  there  is 
nothing  mysterious  about  it.  "At  the  moment  of  ac- 
tion man  will  no  doubt  be  apt  to  follow  the  stronger 
impulse;  and  though  this  may  occasionally  prompt 
him  to  the  noblest  deeds,  it  will  more  commonly  lead 
him  to  gratify  his  own  desires  at  the  expense  of  other 
men.  But  after  their  gratification,  when  past  and 
weaker  impressions  are  judged  by  the  ever-enduring 
social  instinct,  and  by  his  deep  regard  for  the  good 
opinion  of  his  fellows,  retribution  will  surely  coine. 
He  will  then  feel  remorse,  repentance,  regret  or 
shame;  this  latter  feeling,  however,  relates  almost 
exclusively  to  the  judgment  of  others.  He  will  con- 
sequently resolve  more  err  less  firmly  to  act  differ- 
ently for  the  future;  and  this  is  conscience;  for  con- 
science looks  backward  and  serves  as  a  guide  for  the 
future."  (Darwin,  Descent  of  Man,  Chap.  IV.) 

We  must  by  no  means  underestimate  the  impor- 
tant part  which  this  internal  force  plays  in  deciding 
the  happiness  or  unhappiness  of  most  men.  But  both 
the  internal  and  the  external  forces,  which  deter  us 
from  a  wrong  course  of  action,  operate  upon  our 
knowledge  that  such  a  course  will  utimately  result 
in  unhappiness.  This  is  the  only  ultimate  motive  of 
action. 

If  every  individual  always  attempts  to  attain 
the  greatest  amount  of  happiness,  the  doctrine  of 
Necessity  follows  as  a  logical  deduction.  Given  a 
complete  knowledge  of  all  the  environments  in  which 
an  individual  is  placed  and  a  complete  knowledge  of 
that  individual's  conception  of  happiness  (this  latter 
includes  an  exact  idea  of  his  intelligence)  and  we 
could  determine  with  mathematical  certainty  what 
course  of  action  he  would  pursue.  That  this  exact- 
ness is  never  reached  is  due  to  the  practical  impos- 


3O  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

sibility  of  obtaining  all  the  necessary  data.  But  it  is 
surprising  how  accurate  the  keen  observer  of  human 
nature  often  is  in  forseeing  the  actions  of  another. 
This  accuracy  will  be  found  to  increase  or  diminish 
in  proportion  as  more  or  less  correct  estimates  of  the 
actor's  character  and  environments  are  formed. 
Conan  Doyle  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  possibilities 
in  this  line  in  his  famous  Sherlock  Holmes  stories. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  men  do  not  always  act 
from  motives  of  self  interest,  but  sometimes  from 
selfish  and  sometimes  from  unselfish  motives,  it  is 
impossible  to  generalize  their  conduct  in  the  slightest. 
In  which  case,  as  above  stated,  a  science  of  society 
is  absolutely  unthinkable.  The  absurdity  of  such  a 
position  need  hardly  be  pointed  out,  in  spite  of  the 
voluminous  works  which  have  been  written  in  its  de- 
fence. So  we  are  justified  in  maintaining  that  all 
action  resolves  itself  into  an  attempt  on  the  part  of 
an  organism  to  place  itself  in  harmony  with  its  en- 
vironments; that  is,  to  increase  its  happiness  or, 
what  is  the  same  thing,  to  decrease  its  pain.  Such  is 
the  philosophy  of  Egoism. 

This  is  the  only  theory  of  psychology  which  is  in 
harmony  with  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  for  it  is  a 
sine  qua  non  of  that  competition  which  is  so  essential 
to  natural  and  sexual  selection. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle  all  our  actions 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes;  those  from  which 
we  expect  to  derive  pleasure  directly,  and  those  from 
which,  though  often  unpleasant  in  themselves,  we 
hope  ultimately  to  gain  more  happiness  than  pain. 
When  a  man  goes  for  a  walk  on  a  pleasant  after- 
noon, he  expects  to  derive  pleasure  from  the  walk. 
But  when,  on  a  cold,  wintry  night,  he  walks  several 
miles  through  the  snow  to  go  to  a  dance,  the  walk 
becomes  only  a  means  to  attain  happiness;  in  other 


EGOISM.  31 

words,  he  sacrifices  his  immediate  pleasure  for  one 
which  is  greater  though  more  remote.  The  two  pos- 
sible courses  of  action  are  perpetually  conflicting 
with  one  another.  We  pursue  one  course  or  the 
other,  according  as  our  experience  and  intelligence 
may  prompt  us. 

So  many  of  our  actions  are  the  result  of  sacrific- 
ing the  immediate  to  the  remoter  pleasure,  that  peo- 
ple begin  to  look  upon  that  sacrifice  as  something 
noble,  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  it  is  only  a  means 
to  attain  greater  happiness  in  the  end.  Experience 
teaches  us  that  it  is  often  advisable  to  sacrifice  minor 
points  for  the  benefit  of  others,  in  order  that  wre  may 
either  escape  the  pain  of  self-reproach,  or  that  we 
may  reasonably  expect  others  to  help  us  when  we 
shall  need  it.  This  is  a  purely  Egoistic  course  of  ac- 
tion. We  can  often  perform  great  services  for 
others  at  the  cost  of  very  little  trouble  to  ourselves, 
and  we  often  need  assistance  which  others  can  give 
us  without  much  inconvenience,  but  which  is  invalu- 
able to  us.  These  exchanges  are  for  mutual  benefit. 
When  people  lose  sight  of  that  mutual  benefit  and 
say  we  must  sacrifice  ourselves  without  any  hope  of 
reward,  they  get  altogether  beyond  the  pale  of 
reason. 

If  self-sacrifice  is  good,  the  more  we  have  of  it 
the  better,  and  the  man  who  gives  away  all  that  he 
has  except  just  enough  to  keep  him  alive  is  the  finest 
member  of  society.  But  now  a  paradox  is  manifest. 
If  the  self-sacrificer  is  the  noblest  member  of  society, 
the  one  who  accepts  that  sacrifice  is  the  meanest. 
So  to  manifest  due  humility  we  should  debase  our- 
selves by  permitting  others  to  sacrifice  themselves 
for  our  good.  This  nice  little  piece  of  jugglery  may 
be  kept  up  ad  infinitum.  A  can  sacrifice  himself,  by 


32  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

permitting  B  to  sacrifice  himself,  by  condescending 
to  allow  A  to  sacrifice  himself,  and  so  on  as  long  as 
you  like. 

If  self-sacrifice  is  good,  to  sacrifice  oneself  for  the 
benefit  of  the  lower  animals,  from  whom  no  return 
of  the  kindness  can  be  reasonably  expected,  is  still 
better.  Since  we  cannot  even  breathe,  much  less  eat, 
drink  or  be  clothed,  without  destroying  life,  suicide 
becomes  the  only  moral  course.  Now  the  same  old 
paradox  confronts  us  again.  The  fulfilment  of  duty 
is  a  source  of  happiness  from  which  the  self -sacrifice!1 
should  flee.  Instead  of  committing  suicide  as  in  duty 
bound,  he  should  live  to  kill  others.  Mental  gym- 
nastics of  this  nature  may  be  highly  amusing,  but 
they  are  hardly  satisfactory  when  offered  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  a  philosophical  system.  Yet  this  is  all 
the  self-sacrifice  theory,  or  Altruism,  as  it  is  called, 
has  to  offer.  It  is  absurd  whichever  way  it  is  ap- 
proached. 

"If  a  man  smite  thee  upon  one  cheek,  turn  to  him 
the  other  also,"  is  a  very  ennobling  and  comforting 
doctrine — for  the  man  who  is  doing  the  smiting.  But 
the  other  fellow  will  generally  find  it  more  satisfac- 
tory to  follow  the  advice  which  Charlotte  Bronte 
puts  in  the  mouth  of  Jane  Eyre:  "If  people  were  al- 
ways kind  and  obedient  to  those  who  are  cruel  and 
unjust,  the  wicked  people  would  have  it  all  their  own 
way;  they  would  never  feel  afraid,  and  so  they 
would  never  alter  but  grow  worse  and  worse.  When 
we  are  struck  at  without  reason,  we  should  strike 
back  again  very  hard;  I  am  sure  wre  should — so  hard 
as  to  teach  the  person  who  struck  us  never  to  do  it 
again."  The  Egoist  does  not  advocate  a  spirit  of 
revenge,  however,  but  rather  a  spirit  of  self-protec- 
tion. In  some  cases  an  apparent  non-resistant  atti- 
tude offers  the  most  effectual  method  of  resistance. 


EGOISM.  33 

In  such  cases  uon-resistance  will  be  the  most  intelli- 
gent attitude.  But  these  cases  are  few  indeed.  It 
will  usually  be  found  that  a  good  active  show  of  re- 
sistance commands  more  respect  than  all  the  sub- 
mission in  the  world. 

"Inquiring  into  the  pedigree  of  an  idea  is  not  a 
bad  means  of  roughly  estimating  its  value.  To  have 
come  of  respectable  ancestry  is  prima  facie  evidence 
of  worth  in  a  belief  as  in  a  person;  while  to  be  de- 
scended from  a  discreditable  stock  is,  in  the  one  case 
as  in  the  other,  an  unfavorable  index."  (Spencer, 
Nebular  Hypothesis,  p.  108,  v.  1  of  his  Essays.)  As 
soon  as  man  began  to  have  ideas  concerning  a  super- 
natural agent,  his  fear  prompted  him  to  endeavor  to 
propitiate  that  power.  His  worship  was  based  on 
purely  selfish  motives.  It  was  better  to  suffer  consid- 
erable pain  than  to  incur  the  anger  of  the  Gods.  The 
practice  of  self-immolation  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
but  for  its  origin  "we  must  once  more  go  back  to  the 
ghost  theory.  .  .  .  There  are  the  mutilations  and 
blood-lettings  at  funerals;  there  are  the  fastings  con- 
sequent on  sacrifices  of  animals  and  food  at  the 
grave;  and  in  some  cases  there  are  the  deficiencies  of 
clothing  which  follow  the  leaving  of  dresses  (always 
of  the  best)  for  the  departed.  Pleasing  the  dead  is 
therefore  inevitably  associated  in  thought  with  pain 
borne  by  the  living.  .  .  .  Sufferings  having  been 
the  concomitants  of  sacrifices  made  to  ghosts  and 
gods,  there  grew  up  the  notion  that  submission  to 
these  concomitant  sufferings  was  itself  pleasing  to 
ghosts  and  gods;  and  eventually  that  the  bearing  of 
gratuitous  sufferings  was  pleasing.  All  over  the 
world,  ascetic  practices  have  thus  originated."  (Spen- 
cer, Ecclesiastical  Institutions,  pp.  758-759.)  It  re- 
quires but  little  imagination  to  trace  the  effect  of  the 
spirit  of  utilitarianism  operating  upon  this  useless 

3 


34  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

self-immolation  and  transforming  it  into  the  modern 
idea  of  self-sacrifice.  People  often  find  it  necessary 
to  submit  to  temporary  pain  in  order  to  gain  more 
permanent  happiness.  Gradually  the  cake  of  custom 
hardens.  The  means  are  mistaken  for  the  end,  and 
the  whole  trend  of  human  thought  is  perverted  in 
consequence. 

Egoism,  as  such,  does  not  teach  us  how  to  act. 
It  simply  states  why  we  act  as  we  do.  It  is  merely 
an  analysis  of  the  motives  of  action,  but  on  the  result 
of  this  analysis  all  true  ethics  must  rest.  In  declar- 
ing that  all  action  is  the  result  of  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  individual  to  secure  the  greatest  possible 
happiness,  the  Egoist  merely  asserts  a  fact.  Having 
discovered  this  fact,  he  will  base  a  theory  of  conduct 
upon  it,  with  the  end  in  view  of  obtaining  the  great- 
est amount  of  happiness.  He  will  sacrifice  an  imme- 
diate pleasure  for  one  more  remote  when  it  seems 
good  to  him,  and  not  when  it  appears  otherwise. 
Thus  he  says  to  himself,  "I  will  countenance  the  kill- 
ing of  animals  for  my  food,  because  the  good  to  be 
derived  from  so  doing  is  greater  than  the  disadvan- 
tages. But  I  will  discountenance  unnecessary  cru- 
elty; first,  because  cruelty  to  animals  makes  a  man 
brutal  in  his  nature,  and  such  a  man  is  liable  to  in- 
jure me  or  some  one  I  love;  secondly,  because  the 
sight,  or  even  the  thought,  of  unnecessary  pain  is  un- 
pleasant to  me;  and  thirdly,  because  I  derive  no  ben- 
efit from  it. 

So  with  regard  to  all  his  actions  with  other  men, 
after  taking  into  consideration  the  feelings  of  satis- 
faction or  remorse  he  will  experience  from  a  certain 
act,  the  chances  of  the  action  exciting  the  resentment 
or  commendation  of  the  rest  of  the  community,  and 
the  effect  of  setting  an  example  which  is  liable  to  be 


EGOISM.  35 

followed  by  someone  else  to-morrow  and  cause  a  sim- 
ilar course  of  action  to  be  applied  to  him,  after  tak- 
ing all  these  and  similar  factors  into  consideration, 
he  will,  if  he  be  a  wise  man,  be  governed  by  the 
highest  expediency. 

But  when  have  we  time  to  weigh  and  consider  all 
these  factors  before  performing  a  certain  action? 
"The  answer  to  the  objection  is,  that  there  has  been 
ample  time,  namely,  the  whole  past  duration  of  the 
human  species.  During  all  that  time  mankind  has 
been  learning  by  experience  the  tendencies  of  ac- 
tions; on  which  experience  all  the  prudence,  as  well 
as  all  the  morality  of  life,  is  dependent.  .  .  .No- 
body argues  that  the  art  of  navigation  is  not  founded 
on  astronomy  because  sailors  cannot  wait  to  calcu- 
late the  Nautical  Almanack.  Being  rational  crea- 
tures, they  go  to  sea  with  it  ready  calculated;  and 
all  rational  creatures  go  out  upon  the  sea  of  life  with 
their  minds  made  up  on  the  common  questions  of 
right  and  wrong,  as  well  as  on  the  far  more  difficult 
questions  of  wise  and  foolish."  (J.  S.  Mill,  Utilitar- 
ianism, pp.  56-58.) 

So  imbued  do  we  become  with  the  idea  that  cer- 
tain acts  are  wise,  and  we  get  so  in  the  habit  of  per- 
forming them,  that  we  often  do  so  unconsciously. 
But  these  reflex  actions,  as  they  are  called,  are  really 
based  upon  experience  and  habit  and  are  the  result 
of  previous  calculation.  The  fact,  that  feaving  cal- 
culated it  so  often  before  we  know  the  result  at 
once,  is  merely  a  matter  of  economy. 

If  all  our  acts  are  attempts  to  gain  greater  happi- 
ness, it  behoves  us  to  exert  all  our  energies  to  the  at- 
tainment of  that  end.  This  gives  us  a  direct  rational 
basis  of  ethics.  The  idea  of  duty  is  absolutely  lost. 
Actions  appear  to  be  good  only  insofar  as  they  min- 


36  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

ister  to  our  happiness,  and  bad  insofar  as  they  cause 
us  pain.  The  term  right  is  synonymous  with  wise,  and 
wrong,  with  foolish. 

The  highest  morality  is  to  devote  all  our  efforts  to 
attainment  of  happiness,  leaving  others  free  to  do  the 
same.  The  golden  rule  must  be  stated  negatively  and 
made  to  read,  "Mind  your  own  business."  •  As  Egoists 
we  are  bound  to  assume  that  others  are  seeking  their 
own  greatest  happiness,  and  as  long  as  they  do  this, 
it  is  impertinent  to  interfere  with  them  and  foolish  to 
set  an  example  which  will  probably  be  followed  and 
result  in  interference  with  our  own  affairs.  If  others 
attempt  to  meddle  with  us,  we  are  justified  in  acting 
towards  them  in  such  a  manner  that  they  will  find  the 
pain  resulting  from  such  a  course  far  outweighs  the 
pleasure  and,  consequently,  will  not  be  tempted  to  re- 
peat the  experiment. 

The  Egoist  should  abstain  from  all  interference 
with  others  and  resent  any  similar  liberties  they  may 
take  with  him.  He  is  not  even  justified  in  meddling 
with  another's  business  for  his  good.  He  is  bound  to 
assume  that  everyone  is  wise  enough  to  know  what 
constitutes  his  own  happiness.  If  he  isn't,  he  will  suf- 
fer the  consequences  and  know  better  next  time. 

Every  individual  should  be  brought  to  understand 
that  he  is  responsible  for  his  actions  and  will  suffer  the 
consequences  of  all  his  mistakes.  This  is  really  inevit- 
able. The  attempt  to  evade  the  law  of  individual  re- 
sponsibility invariably  results  disastrously.  It  leads 
people  to  suppose  that  they  can  act  foolishly  and  not 
suffer  the  consequences,  and  when  their  folly  finds 
them  out  there  is  no  one  to  help  them.  The  doctrine 
of  individual  responsibility  is  a  corollary  of  Egoism. 
It  teaches  self-reliance  instead  of  self-sacrifice,  depend- 
ence upon  self  instead  of  upon  others.  To  develop  this 


EGOISM.  37 

feeling  it  is  only  necessary  to  give  people  a  chance  to 
practice  it.  To  say  that  I  am  my  brother's  keeper,  is 
to  admit  that  he  is  also  mine.  Devote  yourself  to 
being  happy  and  I  will  do  the  same.  If  we  all  suc- 
ceed the  social  question  will  be  solved.  If  we  fail, 
let  us  try  again  with  our  intelligence  improved  by 
past  experience.  "Enlightenment  makes  selfishness 
useful  and  this  usefulness  popular."  ("Egoism,"  Vol. 
1,  No.  1,  May,  1890.) 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  STATE. 


It  often  happens  that  men  will  repudiate  certain 
theological  ideas  and  yet  cling  with  great  tenacious- 
ness  to  corollaries  of  those  ideas.  An  excellent  ex- 
ample of  this  may  be  found  in  popular  ideas  in  regard 
to  the  origin  of  the  State.* 

While  repudiating  the  idea  of  the  fall  of  man  and 
even  while  affirming  the  doctrine  of  progressive  evolu- 
tion, many  men  maintain  that  the  State  was  originally 
a  voluntary  association  of  individuals  for  their  mutual 
protection  and  the  maintenance  of  personal  liberty, 
and  that  it  has  since  degenerated  into  a  conspiracy 
against  the  human  race  conducted  for  the  benefit  of 
a  few  individuals.  It  would  be  strange  indeed  if 
primitive  man,  with  a  degree  of  intelligence  scarcely 
superior  to  that  of  other  species  of  the  highest  orders 
of  mammals,  should  form  a  State  so  far  superior  to 
any  in  existence  to-day. 


*  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that,  except  where  the 
context  manifestly  implies  a  different  use,  I  use  the  word 
State  in  its  widest  sense— "the  body  politic,"  as  Webster 
defines  it.  This  definition  is  given  provisionally  until  its 
nature  is  further  investigated. 


THE  STATE.  39 

Although  there  are  no  histories  of  primitive  man- 
perhaps  because  there  are  none  to  mislead  us— much 
is  known  of  the  origin  and  development  of  the  State. 
An  investigation  of  the  various  social  systems,  or  lack 
of  such  systems  among  savages  in  various  parts  of 
the  world,  and  the  discovery  of  many  implements, 
monuments  and  other  relics  of  races  which  have 
ceased  to  exist,  teach  us  that  the  State  ivas  founded  in 
aggression. 

So  gradual  is  the  process  of  evolution,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  fix  the  time  of  the  birth  of  the  human 
race.  It  is  consequently  impossible  to  say  what  was 
the  earliest  form  of  human  association.  Many  species 
of  the  lower  animals  have  regular  social  systems, 
the  most  complex  of  which  are  found  among  the  bees 
and  ants.  Some  species  of  monkeys  form  groups  of 
a  gregarious,  we  can  scarcely  call  it  a  social,  nature. 
A  similar  state  of  affairs  is  found  among  some  savage 
tribes  to-day,  and  this  was  probably  the  earliest 
form  of  human  association.  "To  eat,  and  not  to  be 
eaten,  to  satisfy  their  amorous  passions  like  beasts 
in  the  thickets,  as  do  now  the  Papuans,  the  New  Cale- 
donians, and  the  Andamans;  such  were  in  this  primi- 
tive stage  of  social  development  the  only  objects  of 
human  life."  (Letourneau  Sociology,  p.  540.) 

With  but  poorly  developed  mental  power,  almost 
destitute  of  implements,  physically  inferior  to  most 
wild  beasts,  primitive  man  was  subject  to  the  keenest, 
and  what  appear  to  us  the  most  brutal,  competition 
in  the  struggle  for  existence.  The  incessant  conflict 
between  the  members  of  each  of  these  groups  resulted 
in  the  supremacy  of  the  strongest  man,  and  the  war 
between  the  various  groups  gave  the  victory  to  the 
strongest  and  best  organized  group.  Crude,  though 
such  organization  must  have  been,  since  it  was  noth- 


40  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

ing  more  than  submission  to  one  or  more  men  whose 
strength  was  their  sole  claim  to  leadership,  yet  that 
organization  was  frequently  of  paramount  importance 
in  the  struggle.  Other  things  being  equal,  the  most 
perfectly  organized  group  would  naturally  be  victori- 
ous in  time  of  war.  As  the  members  of  the  defeated 
groups  were  usually  killed  and  eaten  by  their  con- 
querors, natural  selection  favored  the  development  of 
organization. 

With  the  development  of  human  intelligence,  the 
recollection  of  past  experience  led  men  to  take  thought 
for  the  morroAV.  This  became  manifest  in  rude  at- 
tempts at  agriculture  and  kindred  occupations.  Hence- 
forth the  lives  of  captives  were  spared  on  condition 
that  they  performed  such  labor  as  might  be  required 
of  them.  They  became  mere  domestic  animals  whose 
very  lives  were  in  the  hands  of  their  masters.  They 
were  spared  only  because  they  were  worth  more  alive 
than  dead.  The  introduction  of  slavery  completed  the 
first  great  step  in  progress,  and  from  it  all  known 
forms  of  civilization  have  sprung. 

From  this  on  society  became  more  complex.  The 
smaller  groups  cased  to  exist.  Some  were  entirely 
exterminated.  Others  consolidated  into  larger  groups 
in  order  to  protect  themselves  better  and  to  make  war 
upon  their  neighbors  with  greater  success.  Large 
tribes  were  thus  formed  which  were,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  essentially  warlike  in  character.  In  times 
of  peace  between  the  tribes  the  warlike  spirit  often 
found  vent  in  severe  internal  dissensions.  This  greatly 
assisted  the  formation  of  different  castes  and  ulti- 
mately tended  to  complete  the  organization  of  the 
tribe.  It  is  somewhat  strange  that  these  internal 
struggles  should,  by  developing  a  certain  organiza- 
tion, enable  the  tribe  to  overcome  its  competitors  in 


THE  STATE.  41 

the  struggle  for  existence.  The  religious  superstitions 
of  primitive  man  began  to  invest  the  rulers  with  many 
of  the  attributes  of  divinity.  In  Peru,  for  example, 
the  Inca  was  looked  upon  as  the  son  of  the  supreme 
God.  This  added  many  powerful  incentives  to  obedi- 
ence and.  what  is  a  pre-requisite  of  obedience,  con- 
fidence in  the  commander.  As  it  assisted  the  central- 
ization of  power  it  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  "favor- 
able variation"  and  its  widespread  existence  is  only 
what  might  be  expected. 

Traditions,  superstitions  and  customs  soon  formed 
around  this  organization  which  was  founded  in  vio- 
lence and  aggression,  and  so  the  State  developed. 

As  the  idea  of  private  property  became  general, 
people  were  punished  for  committing  crimes  against 
it.  In  early  social  forms  the  two  great  crimes  of  this 
nature,  theft  and  adultery,  were  punished  long  before 
crimes  against  life  and  person.  But  even  these  crimes 
were  seldom  punished  when  committed  against  the 
property  of  inferiors.  "A  man  has  no  rights  that  his 
superior  is  bound  to  respect,"  seems  to  have  been 
a  fundamental  principle  of  jurisprudence  even  at  that 
early  date.  It  was  not,  as  some  have  imagined,  the  in- 
vention of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

The  difficulty  of  being  able  to  make  use  of  a  very 
large  number  of  slaves  in  countries  which  were  be- 
ginning to  be  relatively  thickly  settled,  gradually  led 
the  victors  to  permit  the  conquered  people  to  continue 
to  occupy  their  lands,  on  condition  that  they  paid  an 
annual  tribute.  It  was  thus  that  the  Romans  spread 
their  dominion  over  the  ancient  world  and  sowed  the 
seeds  of  the  Feudal  System. 

These  earlier  stages  of  social  development  form 
what  Spencer  calls  the  Militant  type  of  society— a  type 
under  which  warfare  is  the  great  element  of  compe- 


42  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

tition.  During  these  periods  the  tendency  was  towards 
greater  centralization  of  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
State.  Natural  selection  developed  organization  of 
the  non-fighting  as  well  as  of  the  fighting  members 
of  the  community.  The  former  were  the  serfs  or 
slaves  of  the  latter,  and  it  was  their  duty  to  keep  the 
armies  well  supplied  with  food,  clothes  and  impedi- 
menta. A  tribe  so  equipped  would  be  far  better  able 
to  fight  than  their  less  fortunate  enemies. 

Under  such  a  system  the  warrior  was  of  course 
chief,  and  being  chief  he  soon  became  the  richest. 
This  again  added  to  his  power  by  increasing  the 
number  of  his  retainers.  At  his  death  his  son  usually 
inherited  this  wealth  and  power,  which  necessitated 
his  following  the  occupation  of  his  father.  These  and 
similar  forces  operated  to  make  all  occupations  he- 
reditary. 

Incessant  conflict  between  different  tribes  pre- 
cluded the  possibility  of  commerce  between  them,  so 
the  "fostering  of  infant  industries"  and  "patronizing 
home  production"  was  essential.  Associations  of  indi- 
viduals, except  such  military  associations  as  were  un- 
der State  control,  were  injurious  to  the  more  perfect 
organization  of  the  State,  and  consequently  were  not 
permitted. 

"The  nature  of  the  militant  form  of  government 
will  be  further  elucidated  on  observing  that  it  is  both 
positively  regulative  and  negatively  regulative.  It 
does  not  simply  restrain;  it  also  enforces.  Besides 
telling  the  individual  what  he  shall  not  do,  it  tells  him 
what  he  shall  do."  (Spencer,  Principles  of  Sociology, 
v.  2,  p.  574.)  The  development  of  the  State  and  the 
restriction  of  individual  liberty;  the  growth  of  com- 
pulsory association  and  the  suppression  of  voluntary 


THE  STATE.  43 

co-operation,  coercion,  aggression,  regimentation,  rigid- 
ity, stagnation,  these  are  the  fruits  of  the  militant 
type. 

But  the  militant  type  contained  within  itself  the 
germs  of  its  own  destruction.  The  protection  of  a 
man's  property  from  the  cupidity  of  his  inferiors  begat 
the  idea  of  protection  of  men  from  the  rapacity  of 
their  superiors.  It  took  many  centuries  for  this  idea 
to  develop,  even  to  the  extent  it  is  practiced  to-day. 
Many  attempts  to  gain  freedom  failed,  many  pioneers 
lost  their  lives.  During  times  of  civil  war  opposing 
factions  were  often  desirous  of  adding  to  their 
strength.  In  order  to  do  this  they  promised  greater 
freedom  to  the  industrial  classes.  Often  these  prom- 
ises were  violated,  often  they  were  but  partly  fulfilled. 
But  by  occasional  uprisings,  perpetual  demands  and 
incessant  supplication  the  powers  of  the  State  were 
gradually  restricted  and  the  liberty  of  the  individual 
was  increased. 

With  the  increase  of  liberty,  industry  began  to  de- 
velop and  commerce,  instead  of  warfare,  gradually 
became  the  main  element  of  competition.  This  brings 
us  down  to  the  dawn  of  the  Industrial  type  of  soci- 
ety, which  commenced  in  England  early  in  the  Tudor 
period  and  has  grown  ever  since  with  varying  for- 
tunes. The  great  changes  that  have  taken  place  have 
been  progressive  insofar  as  they  have  tended  to  the 
development  of  the  industrial  type.  That  is  to  say,  the 
development  of  industrialism  is  the  decay  of  militancy, 
since  the  characteristics  of  the  one  are  the  antithesis 
of  the  other.  Future  progress  must  be  looked  for  in 
the  development  of  individual  liberty,  the  removal  of 
restrictions,  the  growth  of  voluntary  association  and 
the  decay  of  the  State. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  in  existing  forms  of  soci- 
ety, State  regulation  of  the  actions  of  individuals 


44  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

is  greatest  in  the  most  militant  countries.  In  Germany 
we  find  a  large  standing  army  accompanied  by  com- 
pulsory military  service,  compulsory  insurance,  com- 
pulsory education  and  State  regulation  of  all  kinds. 
Much  the  same  conditions  exist  in  Russia  in  a  more 
intense  form,  and  in  a  less  degree  in  France.  Eng- 
land is  less  militant  and  the  idea  of  liberty  is  better 
developed.  Switzerland  manifests  the  highest  devel- 
opment of  any  European  country  and  has  not  been 
engaged  in  war  for  centuries. 

Sometimes  State  regulation  is  greater  in  any  given 
country  than  it  is  at  other  times.  Close  observation 
reveals  the  fact  that  increased  regulation  almost  al- 
ways follows  military  operations.  A  good  example  of 
this  is  found  in  the  United  States.  Previous  to  the 
war  of  the  rebellion  the  love  of  individual  liberty  was 
very  great  among  the  white  population.  After  the 
war  State  activities  increased  wonderfully.  The  G. 
A.  R.,  the  S.  O.  V.  and  similar  societies  have  fostered 
this  militant  spirit  and  red  flag  patriotism,  until  now 
every  man  who  has  a  grievance  asks  the  State  to 
interfere  in  his  behalf.  The  Prohibitionist,  the  Pro- 
tectionist, the  Greenbacker,  the  National  banker,  the 
Coxeyite,  the  Populist  and  thousands  of  others  are 
victims  of  this  species  of  mania.  It  is  but  natural 
that  any  manifestations  of  violence  and  force  on  the 
part  of  the  State  should  result  in  an  increase  of  its 
powers.  It  is  founded  on  violence  and  aggression,  and 
draws  its  strength  from  them.  .  The  bully  is  always 
a  little  more  arrogant  after  thrashing  one  of  his  vic- 
tims. Successful  military  operations  beget  a  spirit  of 
hero-worship,  pensions  are  freely  bestowed,  military 
men  are  appointed  to  civil  offices  and  all  classes  of 
society  are  permeated  with  a  spirit  of  militancy. 


THE  STATE.  45 

As  the  development  of  industrialism  and  all  ideas 
of  modern  progress  are  dependent  upon  the  dissolution 
of  the  State,  we  must  look  upon  that  organization  as 
essentially  anti-social.  In  its  purity  it  is  simply  an 
organization  for  the  coercion  of  the  many  by  the  one, 
or  of  the  minority  by  the  majority— it  matters  not 
which,  Insofar  as  its  power  to  coerce  has  been  re- 
stricted just  insofar  has  it  been  dissolved.  Further 
progress  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  same  line. 

As  I  have  suggested  above,  the  State  is  in  a  large 
measure  fostered  by  the  religious  sentiments  of  the 
community.  In  most  early  forms  the  sovereign  was 
looked  upon  as  the  representative  of  God,  as  in  China 
and  Ancient  Mexico.  In  Peru  and  Egypt  he  was  even 
regarded  as  a  God.  "The  divine  right  of  kings  to  gov- 
ern wrong"  was  almost  universally  recognized  in 
Mediaeval  Europe.  To-day  we  are  taught  to  believe  in 
the  divine  right  of  the  majority.  "Vox  populi  vox  Dei'1 
is  still  the  motto  of  our  text  books  of  civil  govern- 
ment. The  very  attributes  of  divinity  are  still  ac- 
corded to  the  State.  All  laws  for  the  suppression  of 
vice,  the  protective  tariff  and  every  act  of  our  legis- 
lative assemblies,  except  those  for  the  protection  of 
life  and  property,  pre-suppose  that  the  State  is  in- 
fallible and  omnipotent.  What  power  but  one  that 
lays  claim  to  infallibility  can  consistently  dictate  to 
the  individual  what  he  shall  do  and  what  he  shall  not 
do,  what  he  shall  or  what  he  shall  not  eat  and  drink, 
and  the  thousand  and  one  things  that  the  State  di- 
rectly and  indirectly  dictates  to  us  to-day?  What 
power  that  is  not  omnipotent  could  enforce  these  regu- 
lations? And  if  they  cannot  be  enforced  what  is 
the  use  of  making  them  ? 

If  not  of  divine  origin,  what  is  this  intangible 
power?  It  does  not  depend  upon  the  existence  of  any 


46  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

one  individual  in  a  monarchy,  or  of  any  body  of  legis- 
lators in  a  republic.  When  the  Czar  dies,  or  when  the 
term  of  every  legislator  expires,  the  State  still  lives, 
intangible,  inscrutable.  We  often  find  men  living  un- 
der a  monarchy  who  condemn  most  strongly  the  acts 
of  their  sovereign,  and  are  yet  stout  advocates  of  that 
form  of  State.  So  in  America,  we  find  men  who  con- 
demn every  Congress  they  know  anything  about,  and 
yet  howl  lustily  about  the  sacredness  of  "our  glorious 
institutions."  Often  will  a  man  maintain  that  our 
legislative  halls  are  filled  with  men  whom  he  heartily 
despises;  he  will  assert  that  the  protective  tariff  is  a 
tyrannical  imposition  on  the  people;  yet  he  will  be 
willing  to  punish  the  smuggler  for  disobeying  a  bad 
law,  enacted  by  a  set  of  disreputable  politicians,  just 
because  it  is  necessary  to  obey  the  mandates  of  the 
State. 

The  State  is  of  God  or  it  is  nothing.  To  deny  the 
existence  of  a  God  who  delegates  his  powers  to  the 
rulers  on  earth,  is  to  deny  all  the  pretentious  claims  of 
the  State.  From  a  very  different  standpoint  the  "Civ- 
ilta  Catholica"  of  Rome  reaches  this  same  conclusion. 
"  'We  want  no  God!'  declared  the  men  of  1789,  and 
they  put  liberty  in  the  place  of  the  Creator.  The 
motto  'No  God,  no  master,'  is  but  a  natural  conse- 
quence of  this."  (Translated  in  Literary  Digest,  15th 
March,  1894.)  This  theory  is  suported  by  the  fact  that 
the  dissolution  of  the  State  has  followed  the  de- 
cay of  religious  belief.  It  was  not  till  after  the  Re- 
formation that  the  denial  of  the  divine  right  of  kings, 
as  manifested  in  the  beheading  of  Charles  I.,  was 
possible.  The  development  of  Free-thought  preceded 
and  accompanied  the  French  and  American  Revolu- 
tions. 

In  the  higher  forms  of  life  the  individuals  epi- 
tomize the  life  history  of  the  species.  "The  higher 


THE  STATE.  47 

structures  passing  through  the  same  stages  as  the 
lower  structures  up  to  the  point  when  they  are 
marked  off  from  them,  yet  never  becoming  in  detail 
the  form  which  they  represent  for  the  time  being." 
(Clodd,  Story  of  Creation,  p.  102.)  In  like  manner 
we  find  that  States  which  have  recently  come  into 
existence  in  a  complex  condition  manifest  many  of 
the  characteristics  of  lower  forms.  The  British  col- 
onies and  the  United  States  clung  to  slavery  long 
after  it  had  been  abandoned  in  every  other  civilized 
country.  The  great  reversion  to  militancy  in  this 
country,  while  directly  caused  by  the  late  war,  could 
not  have  been  as  intense  in  older  States  under  similar 
conditions.  In  newly  settled  districts  on  the  frontier 
of  civilization  the  far  greater  value  that  is  placed 
upon  property  than  upon  human  life,  causing  theft 
to  be  punished  with  death  while  the  murderer  is  per- 
mitted to  go  free,  is  very  characteristic  of  the  earliest 
forms  of  society.  As  progress  is  very  rapid  in  such 
places  these  characteristics  are  soon  lost  and  a  rela- 
tively high  form  of  Sfate  is  organized.  But  even  in 
the  more  densely  settled  portions  of  the  New  World 
many  reversions  towards  the  militant  type  are  found. 
The  marvelous  growth  of  secret  societies  and  the 
elaborate  regalia  worn  by  their  members  are  clearly 
characteristics  of  a  militant  race.  Nothing  seems  to 
delight  the  average  American  more  than  to  strut 
around  in  a  gaudy  uniform.  Even  in  professional 
societies,  where  regalia  is  manifestly  out  of  place, 
it  seems  almost  impossible  for  them  to  relinquish  this 
custom  altogether.  Instead  of  a  uniform,  large  badges, 
made  of  colored  ribbon,  are  worn  upon  all  great  occa- 
sions. This  is  practiced  among  all  classes  in  the 
United  States.  In  European  countries  "playing  at 
soldiers"  is  usually  left  to  children.  Side  by  side  with 


48  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

the  greatest  commercialism,  we  see  a  spirit  of  jingo- 
ism manifested  that  would  put  a  warlike  European 
nation  to  shame.  In  spite  of  the  lack  of  a  large  stand- 
ing army,  men  delight  in  titles  of  all  kinds,  but  mili- 
tary titles  in  particular.  Glaring  absurdities  and  con- 
tradictions of  this  kind  are  seen  on  every  hand,  and 
have  puzzled  nearly  all  our  foreign  critics.  They  are 
nothing  but  the  symptoms  of  national  babyhood  which 
are  destined  to  be  outgrown  as  maturity  is  reached. 
While  they  exist  they  make  the  United  States  one  of 
the  most  interesting,  though  one  of  the  most  annoy- 
ing countries  to  study,  and  prove  beyond  question  its 
kinship  with  older  forms  of  State. 

The  State  is  founded  in  aggression.  Its  main  func- 
tion is  the  suppression  of  individual  liberty.  It  claims 
absolute  jurisdiction  over  all  within  its  borders.  It 
derives  its  power  from  the  superstitious  veneration  of 
its  subjects,  and  governs  and  coerces  them  in  propor- 
tion to  the  depth  of  that  superstition.  But  gradually 
superstitions  decay.  A  few  members  of  the  commun- 
ity demand  more  liberty,  and  they  obtain  it  when 
they  become  sufficiently  strong  to  enforce  their  de- 
mands. The  State  is  the  machine  of  the  militant  type 
and  is  essentially  anti-social  in  its  nature.  It  must 
gradually  dissolve  as  the  spirit  of  industrialism  gains 
strength.  Voluntary  association  cannot  be  perfected 
while  the  State  exists,  for  each  is  antagonistic  to  the 
other. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


EQUAL  FREEDOM. 


The  doctrine  of  evolution  teaches  us  that  prog- 
ress is  due  to  the  most  relentless  competition,  which, 
by  destroying  those  indivduals  who  possess  ufavor- 
able  characteristics  and  preserving  those  whose  char- 
acteristics are  better  adapted  to  their  environments, 
ultimately  develops  in  the  species  those  favorable 
characteristics.  So  the  progress  of  the  species  is  de- 
pendent upon  the  progress  of  the  individuals.  The 
existence  of  different  characteristics  pre-supposes 
variation.  The  greater  the  amount  of  variation,  the 
better  chance  has  the  species  of  adapting  itself  to  its 
environments  and  of  surviving  in  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence. 

Permanent  improvement  in  human  society  can 
only  be  found  under  conditions  which  are  in  harmony 
with  these  principles;  that  is  to  say,  in  a  state  of  so- 
ciety which  is  favorable  to  the  development  of  differ- 
ent characteristics  among  its  members,  which  recog- 
nizes the  welfare  of  the  individual  to  be  of  para- 
mount importance  and  which  permits  the  freest  com- 
petition among  its  members,  in  order  that  that  wel- 
fare may  become  general. 

4 


50  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM.      , 

The  philosopny  of  Egoism,  which  is  merely  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  applied  to  psychology,  teaches 
us  that  each  individual  always  seeks  his  own  greatest 
happiness.  Any  interference  with  an  individual  in 
the  pursuit  of  his  happiness  is  unwarranted,  as  no 
one  can  know  better  than  the  person  himself  in  what 
direction  his  happiness  lies.  Individual  freedom  is 
necessary  to  the  attainment  of  individual  happiness. 

Any  restraint  of  the  free  activities  of  the  indi- 
vidual are  certain  to  violate  the  conditions  of  social 
progress. 

Every  activity  is  either  beneficial  or  detrimental. 
Surely  there  can  be  no  sense  in  restraining  beneficial 
activity,  so  the  only  excuse  for  restraint  is  that  the 
activities  restrained  are  detrimental,  either  to  the  per- 
son himself,  to  some  other  person,  or  to  society. 

We  have  already  seen  that  no  one  can  be  a  better 
judge  of  whether  a  certain  course  of  action  will  re- 
sult in  happiness  or  pain  to  the  actor,  than  is  that  per- 
son himself.  But  even  supposing  greater  experience 
enables  another  to  forsee  the  misery  that  will  result 
from  certain  actions,  while  the  actor  is  blind  to 
those  results  and  sees  only  the  bright  side.  Shall  we 
not  permit  the  older  and  more  experienced  man  to 
restrain  the  impetuous  youth?  By  no  means.  Apart 
from  the  possibility  of  the  older  man  being  mis- 
taken, restraint  will  only  make  the  youth  more  im- 
petuous still.  Even  if  his  actions  are  curbed  for  the 
moment,  they  are  not  suppressed,  but  will  break  out 
with  greater  violence  as  soon  as  an  opportunity 
arises.  Meanwhile  the  youth  has  been  fretting  and 
chafing  under  the  restraint,  and  has  probably  suf- 
fered more  pain  from  this  cause  than  he  would  have 
from  doing  as  he  wished.  Such  restraint  can  teach  a 
man  nothing.  If  absolutely  successful  it  stultifies 


EQUAI,   FREEDOM.  51 

his  character,  if  unsuccessful  it  only  adds  fuel  to  the 
fire.  On  the  other  hand,  if  permitted  to  have  his 
own  way,  at  worst  a  man  can  but  fail  in  his  attempt 
to  gain  happiness.  This  failure  will  teach  him  to  try 
better  next  time.  Success  is  only  achieved  by  con- 
stant failure.  By  these  means  alone  can  men  be 
taught,  to  bear  the  responsibility  of  their  actions, 
for  responsibility  is  ever  the  cost  of  freedom.  If  a 
man  is  left  alone  to  pursue  a  seemingly  foolish  course 
of  action,  he  may  succeed  in  making  himself  happy, 
in  which  case  he  adds  to  the  sum  total  of  human  wis- 
dom. A  man  of  experience  may  often  advise  an  im- 
petuous youth,  but  he  will  never  restrain  him,  for 
the  desire  to  restrain  is  born  of  inexperience. 

If  a  man  is  not  to  be  restrained  for  his  own  good, 
why  should  he  be  restrained  on  account  of  another? 
If  the  happiness  of  one  results  in  the  unhappiness  of 
the  other,  who  is  to  judge  between  them?  Nearly 
every  action  results  in  unhappiness  to  some  one.  Are 
all  actions  therefore  to  be  restrained?  The  success 
of  one  man  depends  upon  the  defeat  of  another.  To 
protect  the  weak  from  defeat  is  to  prohibit  success. 
Such  a  denial  of  competition  is  at  variance  with  our 
guiding  principles,  and  is  absolutely  absurd  and  un- 
tenable. 

Now  we  come  to  those  actions  which  are  said  to 
be  detrimental  to  society.  How  do  we  know  that 
they  are  detrimental?  With  every  new  development 
of  social  growth,  ideas  which  before  were  considered 
detrimental  are  found  to  be  beneficial.  The  heretic 
of  yesterday  is  the  hero  of  to-day.  An  infallible 
power  might  be  able  to  tell  what  actions  are  detri- 
mental and  what  are  not,  but  no  one  else  can.  This 
excuse  of  social  utility  is  invalid,  because  it  makes 
the  welfare  of  the  individual  subservient  to  that  of 


52  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

Society.  This  is  contrary  to  the  higher  law  of  social 
utility,  the  law  of  progress.  Any  restraint  of  the 
activities  of  the  individual  denies  free  competition,  is 
inimical  to  the  development  of  different  characteris- 
tics and  is  consequently  in  direct  violation  of  the 
teachings  of  evolution  and  Egoism. 

If  freedom  is  the  condition  of  progress,  all  in- 
vasion of  that  freedom  is  bad  and  should  be  re- 
sisted, whether  it  is  practiced  by  one  upon  another, 
by  one  upon  many,  or  by  many  upon  one.  In  other 
words,  individual  freedom  pre-supposes  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  invader,  whether  that  invader  appears  as 
an  individual  criminal  or  as  the  corporate  criminal — 
the  State, — and  whether  as  the  Republican  or  as  the 
Imperial  form  of  State. 

The  freedom  of  each  individual  denies  all  the 
freedom  to  invade.  For  when  one  individual  in- 
vades, the  activities  of  another  are  restrained.  "If 
men  have  like  claims  to  that  freedom  which  is  need- 
ful for  the  exercise  of  their  faculties,  then  must  the 
freedom  of  each  be  bounded  by  the  similar  free- 
doms of  all.  .  .  .  Wherefore  we  arrive  at  the 
general  proposition,  that  every  man  may  claim  the 
fullest  liberty  to  exercise  his  faculties  compatible 
writh  the  possession  of  like  liberty  by  every  other 
man."  (Spencer,  Social  Statics,  p.  36,  revd.  ed.)  This 
is  the  principle  of  Equal  Freedom,  which,  being  de- 
rived from  the  conclusions  of  biology  and  psychology, 
must  be  observed  if  good  results  are  to  be  expected 
in  human  society.* 


*  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Sociology  is  not  an 
exact  science,  and  consequently  any  generalizations  that 
may  be  made  for  the  guidance  of  society,  cannot  be  abso- 
lutely perfect.  Human  happiness  is  the  aim  of  all  social 
reform.  Such  generalizations  as  may  be  made  to  guide  us 
on  the  road  to  happiness,  are  valuable  only  insofar  as 


EQUAI,  FREEDOM.  53 

While  everyone  is  willing  to  endorse  the  prin- 
ciple of  Equal  Freedom,  not  more  than  one  per  cent, 
of  those  individuals  knows  what  it  means.  They 
daily  advocate  measures  which  are  diametrically 
opposed  to  it  and  expect  to  attain  good  results. 

The  only  way  a  man  can  invade  the  liberty  of 
another  is  by  doing  something.  A  man  cannot  vio- 
late another's  liberty  by  remaining  passive,  unless  by 
so  doing  he  breaks  the  terms  of  a  contract.  So  any 
form  of  compulsion  to  act.  or  as  Spencer  calls  it, 
"positive  regulation,"  is  contrary  to  Equal  Freedom. 
"Negative  regulation"  is  the  only  form  which  is  per- 
missible. Nor  are  all  acts  to  be  subject  to  this  nega- 
tive regulation.  All  our  acts  are  either  self-regarding, 

they  contribute  to  that  end.  This  is  true  of  the  principle  of 
Equal  Freedom.  Exceptional  cases  may  arise,  when  a  strict 
adherence  to  this  principle  would  result  in  greater  misery 
than  would  a  violation  of  it.  For  example,  it  may  be  nec- 
essary to  violate  the  right  of  property  by  blowing  up 
houses  to  prevent  the  spread  of  a  conflagration,  as  was 
done  at  the  Chicago  fire,  or  it  may  be  advisable  to  violate 
the  personal  liberty  of  infected  persons  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  cholera.  But  these  cases  are  very  exceptional, 
and,  under  such  circumstances,  a  violation  of  Equal  Free- 
dom is  fully  justified.  Yet  so  trustworthy  a  guide  is  this 
principle,  that  unless  the  wisdom  of  violating  it  is  almost 
absolutely  certain,  it  would  be  better  to  follow  it  wherever 
it  may  lead  us.  As  a  general  working  principle  it  cannot 
be  too  strongly  insisted  upon.  In  spite  of  such  exceptions 
as  those  above  cited,  I  believe  that  an  unflinching  adher- 
ence to  the  principle  in  all  cases,  no  matter  who  might 
suffer,  would,  in  the  long  run,  be  less  harmful  than  a  very 
lax  application  of  it.  If  we  start  in  to  follow  it  blindly, 
the  few  exceptions  that  are  necessary  will  become  apparent 
as  they  arise,  and  as  there  is  nothing  sacred  about  any 
such  generalization,  we  should  soon  learn  how  to  adapt 
it  to  such  emergencies.  But  to  say  that  it  is  an  abso- 
lute law,  which  all  individuals  and  associations  of  indi- 
viduals are  bound  to  observe,  whatever  may  befall,  is  to 
deny  that  self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature. 


54  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

as  Mill  terms  it,  or  social.  Self-regarding  acts  are 
those  which  directly  concern  ourselves  alone.  Social 
acts  are  those  which  directly  concern  others.  Eating, 
drinking,  sleeping,  personal  habits,  etc.,  are  included 
in  the  first  class,  commercial  and  professional  trans- 
actions in  the  second.  To  assume  that  self-regarding 
acts  can  interfere  writh  the  liberty  of  others,  is  to  deny 
that  those  acts  are  self-regarding.  If  an  act  violates 
the  liberty  of  another,  it  cannot  concern  the  actor  alone. 
Such  a  proposition  is  absolutely  absurd.  This  nar- 
rows the  field  of  regulation  to  social  acts.  It  would 
be  absurd  to  say  that  all  social  acts  shall  be  regu- 
lated, for  this  would  certainly  not  be  the  greatest 
freedom  compatible  with  equality  of  freedom.  Where 
then  shall  the  line  be  drawn?  Clearly  only  those  ac- 
tions which  directly  interfere  with  the  freedom  of 
others  are  to  be  subject  to  regulation.  Anything 
short  of  this  is  less  than  the  maximum  of  freedom. 
If  all  actions  which  indirectly  result  in  the  invasion 
of  the  liberty  of  another  are  to  be  regulated,  nearly 
all  social  acts  and  many  which  are  considered  as  self- 
regarding  will  be  included.  For  example;  A  pur- 
chases $100  worth  of  goods  from  B  instead  of  from  C. 
C  is  in  consequence  unable  to  dispose  of  his  goods, 
and  so  cannot  pay  his  creditors.  Is  A  to  be  com- 
pelled to  purchase  from  C  .instead  of  from  B  ?  Even 
if  this  were  done,  B  might  now  be  no  better  off  than 
C  was  before.  This  seems  to  be  an  extreme  case,  but 
surely  it  is  not  half  as  absurd  as  many  propositions 
that  are  heard  daily.  How  often  has  it  been  said, 
that  a  man  should  not  be  allowed  to  drink  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  for  fear  that  his  example  would  corrupt 
others,  that  these  others  might  drink  to  excess  and, 
while  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  commit  some  overt 
act?  The  Prohibitionists  reconcile  their  theory  with 


EQUAI,   FREEDOM.  55 

Equal  Freedom  by  arguments  which  have  far  less 
basis  than  this.  The  reason  usually  given  for  the 
suppression  of  vice  is,  that  if  it  goes  unchecked, 
others  will  become  vicious  from  example.  If  the  vice 
in  the  first  man  is  not  a  direct  violation  of  Equal 
Freedom,  how  does  it  become  so  in  the  case  of  the 
second?  If  we  are  not  justified  in  protecting  the  first 
man  from  the  result  of  his  folly,  why  are  we  justified 
in  protecting  the  second?  If  a  vice  does  directly  vio- 
late the  freedom  of  others,  it  ceases  to  be  a  vice  and 
becomes  a  crime.  Vices  are  a  man's  personal  prop- 
erty and  all  interference  with  them  is  impertinent. 

Every  act  of  our  lives  has  an  indirect  effect  upon 
a  very  large  number  of  people,  producing  happiness 
in  some  individuals  and  pain  in  others.  These  acts 
have  a  tendency  to  encourage  one  and  to  drive  an- 
other to  despair,  to  cause  one  to  help  his  fellows  and 
to  produce  lawlessness  to  another.  If  any  acts  are 
to  be  regulated  because  they  produce  unhappiness 
and  often  indirectly  result  in  a  violation  of  Equal 
Liberty,  then  all  our  acts  must  be  subject  to  official 
supervision  and  the  principle  of  Equal  Freedom  is 
but  the  nightmare  of  a  disordered  brain.  But  even 
if  this  is  admitted,  it  is  equally  fatal  to  this  theory 
of  regulation,  for  its  adherents  only  attempt  to  jus- 
tify their  interference  by  an  attempt  to  gain  that 
Equal  Liberty  which  they  now  deny. 

The  fact  that  an  act  directly,  in  and  of  itself,  in- 
vades the  liberty  of  another  is  the  only  excuse  for  in- 
terference with  that  act.  At  no  other  place  can  the 
line  be  drawn.  While  this  line  is  often  indefinite,  it 
gives  us  a  good  working  basis.  The  experience  we 
will  gain  from  applying  it,  will  gradually  teach  us  to 
discriminate  in  all  doubtful  cases.  Obscure,  though  it 


56  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

sometimes  is,  it  is  infinitely  better  than  no  guide  at 
all,  or  than  any  less  definite,  and  these  are  all  that  are 
offered  in  its  stead. 

The  first  essentials  of  freedom  are,  of  course,  the 
freedom  to  live  unmolested  and  the  freedom  of  the 
producer  to  retain  unrestricted  the  full  product  of  his 
toil.  While  there  may  be  serious  differences  of  opin- 
ion in  regard  to  the  definitions  of  "producer"  and 
"product,"  I  think  no  one  will  deny  that  crimes 
against  person  and  property— murder,  assault,  theft, 
etc.— are  violations  of  Equal  Freedom. 

If  a  man  voluntarily  contracts  to  perform  certain 
actions,  a  failure  on  his  part  to  fulfil  the  contract 
must  be  considered  in  the  light  of  an  invasion.  He 
made  the  contract  expecting  to  receive  some  benefit 
in  return  for  his  services.  If.  after  receiving  that 
supposed  benefit,  he  refuses  to  pay  the  price  agreed 
upon— this  is  what  a  breach  of  contract  virtually 
means— he  is  receiving  something  for  nothing.  To 
say  that  it  is  inconsistent  with  Equal  Freedom  to 
compel  a  man  to  act,  is,  under  these  circumstances, 
about  as  sensible  as  to  say  that  the  liberty  of  the 
thief  is  invaded  when  he  is  compelled  to  return  his 
plunder  to  its  rightful  owner.  If  a  man  finds  that  the 
benefit  he  derives  from  a  contract  is  not  as  great  as 
he  supposed  it  would  be,  this  is  no  excuse  for  any 
violation  of  the  contract.  He  should  have  known 
what  he  was  doing  in  the  first  place.  Any  mistake  of 
his  must  be  borne  by  himself.  The  other  party  has 
performed  his  part  and  is  justified  in  claiming  his 
reward.  Even  the  demands  of  Shylock,  though  mer- 
ciless, must  be  considered  as  perfectly  just.  If  An- 
tonio was  such  a  fool  as  to  sign  the  contract,  it  was 
the  most  disreputable  sculduggery  on  his  part  to  take 
advantage  of  unjust  and  tyrannical  legal  technical- 


EQUAI,  FREEDOM.  57 

ities.  The  only  things  that  can  justify  the  violation  of 
a  contract  are  the  use  of  force  or  fraud  by  the  other 
party  in  the  procuring  or  execution  of  the  contract. 

These  are  some  of  the  violations  of  liberty  which 
are  punished  by  our  laws.  Now  let  us  see  the  viola- 
tions which  the  law  commits. 

Since  the  State  is  founded  in  aggression,  and  is 
inimical  to  individual  liberty,  it  is  but  natural  to 
suppose  that  its  very  existence  is  threatened  by  the 
principle  of  Equal  Freedom.  This  is  actually  the 
case.  If  all  forms  of  compulsion  are  tyrannical,  the 
enforced  payment  of  taxes  is  no  less  so.  Men  who 
pay  all  debts  cheerfully  will  lie  like  Waterbury 
watches  to  evade  the  tax  collector.  Why  is  this? 
Simply  because  they  think  they  gain  no  adequate  re- 
turn for  the  money  so  invested.  Whether  they  are 
right  in  this  assumption  or  not  is  immaterial.  To 
compel  a  man  to  buy  that  which  he  does  not  want  is 
the  grossest  tyranny.  If  he  finds  that  it  is  necessary 
to  his  happiness,  he  will  buy  it  without  compulsion. 
If  he  does  not  find  it  necessary,  by  what  right  can 
anyone  compel  him  to  pay  for  it?  But  taxes  are  the 
source  from  which  the  State  derives  its  life's  blood. 
So  it  is,  as  its  history  would  lead  us  to  believe,  es- 
sentially a  tyrannical  institution. 

The  ways  in  which  this  tyranny  is  exercised  are 
too  numerous  to  mention,  but  it  will  be  advisable  to 
point  out  a  few  of  the  most  important.  Prominent 
among  these  are  the  laws  which  relate  to  the  issu- 
ance of  money.  To  tell  a  man  that  he  shall  accept 
a  certain  coin  or  piece  of  paper  in  payment  of  all 
debts  due  to  him  is  in  the  nature  of  positive  regula- 
tion. The  laws  which  base  the  circulating  medium 
of  the  country  on  one  or  two  commodities,  place  a 
premium  on  those  commodities  and  consequently  de- 


58  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

stroy  the  possibility  of  free  competition.  A  man  can- 
not invade  the  liberty  of  another  by  issuing  a  note 
or  circulating  medium,  provided  he  compels  no  one 
to  accept  it,  or  misrepresents  its  value.  Yet  this  is 
practically  prohibited  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment by  the  imposition  of  a  ten  per  cent,  tax,  and  is 
a  criminal  offense  in  nearly  every  State.  By  these 
means  competition  is  restricted,  the  freedom  of  con- 
tract is  violated  and  the  individual  who  possesses 
certain  characteristics  is  fostered  at  the  expense  of 
all  the  rest  of  the  community.  The  remedy  for  this 
cannot  be  given  here,  but  will  be  found  in  subse- 
quent chapters. 

Since  labor  cannot  be  thought  of,  except  in  con- 
nection with  something  to  which  it  can  be  applied, 
there  can  be  no  free  competition  in  labor  unless  the 
natural  sources  of  wealth  are  free.  If  they  are  not 
free  to  all,  those  who  are  debarred  from  access  to 
them,  must  either  starve  or  pay  such  tribute  as  the 
other  more  fortunate  members  of  the  community 
may  demand.  On  these  two  monopolies  most  of  the 
important  social  evils  depend. 

In  spite  of  all  our  vaunted  freedom  we  are  still 
enslaved  by  the  State.  Even  the  freedoms  of  speech 
and  press,  which  we  hear  glorified  on  every  hand, 
are  but  shams  after  all.  You  doubt  it?  Then  go 
into  any  court  room  and  criticize  a  decision  of  the 
Judge,  and  see  how  much  freedom  of  speech  you  are 
allowed.  Tell  a  lot  of  strikers  that  they  will  never 
gain  anything  by  peaceful  methods.  Publish  a  paper 
for  the  promotion  of  suicide.  Expose  certain  of  the 
evils  that  result  from  the  present  marriage  system. 
Then  you  will  see  how  much  the  liberty  of  the  press 
is  respected  in  this  "land  of  the  free  and  home  of 
the  brave."  "But  these  are  dangerous  doctrines," 


EQUAI,  FREEDOM.  59 

it  is  said.  How  do  you  know  that  they  are  danger- 
ous? Christianity  was  considered  dangerous  once. 
Protestantism  was  considered  dangerous.  Free- 
thought  was  considered  dangerous.  That  is  why 
stringent  laws  against  the  promulgation  of  such 
doctrines  were  passed.  The  only  freedom  of  speech 
that  is  worth  having  is  the  freedom  to  preach  dan- 
gerous doctrines.  In  no  age,  no  matter  how  be- 
nighted, in  no  country,  no  matter  how  tyrannical  its 
form  of  government,  has  the  freedom  to  preach 
harmless  doctrines  ever  been  denied.  It  was  for 
preaching  dangerous  doctrines  that  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth was  crucified,  that  Bruno  was  burnt,  that  the 
Chicago  Communists  were  hanged.  Thousands  of 
others  have  been  tortured  and  put  to  death  for  a  sim- 
ilar reason.  Nothing  but  the  freedom  to  preach  all 
doctrines,  no  matter  how  dangerous  they  may  seem, 
is  worthy  of  the  name  of  liberty. 

Evidences  of  the  tyranny  of  the  State  abound  on 
every  hand.  In  spite  of  all  our  progress  we  have 
far  to  travel  before  the  goal  of  Equal  Freedom  can 
be  reached.  All  the  laws,  which  prohibit  or  restrict 
the  free  exchange  of  commodities,  or  services,  be- 
tween individuals  of  the  same  or  different  countries, 
are  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  law  of  prog- 
ress. The  protective  tariff,  the  laws  prohibiting 
private  individuals  from  carrying  the  mails,  those 
compelling  a  man  to  pay  for  the  education  of  an- 
other's children,  or  to  supply  gratuitous  novel-read- 
ing for  gum-chewing  school  girls,  copyrights,  patents, 
the  laws'  regulating  intercourse  between  the  sexes, 
all  these  and  many  other  similar  forms  of  coercion 
will  be  found  on  close  analysis  to  be  reversions  to 
the  militant  type  of  society.  But  bad  though  such 


60  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

things  undoubtedly  are,  their  removal  will  benefit  us 
but  little  until  the  freedom  to  issue  money  and  to 
use  land  is  gained. 

The  invasive  acts  of  individual  transgressors  are 
comparatively  insignificant  beside  those  of  the 
State.  The  power  of  the  individual  for  harm  is  at 
worst  limited  to  a  short  term  of  years.  His  acts  are 
isolated  and  temporary.  But  those  of  the  State  are 
organized,  systematic,  universal  and  well  nigh 
eternal. 

In  the  last  chapter  it  was  shown  that  the  State 
has  ever  been  engine  of  militancy,  and  that  prog- 
ress towards  Industrialism  has  been  gained  only  by 
restricting  its  powers.  We  have  just  seen  how  it 
violates  Equal  Freedom  in  almost  every  way.  So  we 
are  inevitably  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  its  entire 
abolition  is  necessary  before  a  perfect  system  of  In- 
dustrialism is  possible.  "This  century's  battle  then 
is  with  the  State:  the  State,  that  debases  man;  the 
State,  that  prostitutes  woman;  the  State,  that  cor- 
rupts children;  the  State,  that  trammels  love;  the 
State,  that  stifles  thought;  the  State,  that  monopo- 
lizes land;  the  State,  that  limits  credit;  the  State, 
that  restricts  exchange;  the  State,  that  gives  idle 
capital  the  power  of  increase,  and,  through  inter- 
est, rent,  profit  and  taxes  robs  industrious  labor  of 
its  product.  (Tucker,  Instead  of  a  Book,  p.  31.)  This 
is  the  Philosophy  of  Anarchism — the  absence  of  all 
coercion  of  the  non-invasive  individual. 

To  many  this  doctrine  will  seem  absurd.  The 
idea  of  the  State  is  so  firmly  rooted  in  men's  minds 
that  it  is  no  light  task  to  overthrow  it.  Most  people 
look  upon  it  as  a  necessity— a  necessary  evil,  some 
will  even  say.  The  same  was  said  of  a  supreme 
church  some  300  years  ago.  But  compulsion  has 


E£UAI<  FREEDOM.  6 1 

given  place  to  voluntary  association  in  religion.    Why 
may  not  such  a  change  be  possible  in  civil  affairs? 

The  possibility  of  dispensing  with  State  interfer- 
ence in  a  few  of  the  most  important  matters  is  dis- 
cussed in  the  following  chapters.  If  we  can  protect 
life  and  property,  effect  exchanges  and  carry  on  pub- 
lic business  without  compulsion,  the  necessity  for 
State  interference  in  our  more  personal  affairs  is 
surely  disproved  by  implication. 


CHAPTER  V. 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND 
PROPERTY. 


Probably  the  first  question  which  presents  itself  to 
the  mind,  when  the  abolition  of  the  State  is  sug- 
gested, is  how  crime  will  be  suppressed.  It  will  be 
apparent  to  all  who  understood  the  last  chapter,  that 
actions  are  only  criminal  insofar  as  they  directly 
transgress  the  freedom  of  others.  Many  people  still 
cling  to  the  idea  that  the  main  function  of  the  State 
is  to  maintain  Equal  Freedom,  an  idea  which  has 
already  been  exploded,  by  showing  that  the  State  is 
the  greatest  violator  of  the  law— in  other  words,  the 
greatest  criminal.  How  then  can  we  expect  it  to 
protect  us?  True  it  affords  us  a  certain  security 
against  smaller  criminals,  in  order  that  it  may  have 
an  excuse  for  its  own  crimes.  How  well  it  fills  the 
position  of  criminal-in-chief  may  be  read  in  the  re- 
ports of  the  Lexow  committee.  Nor  is  it  in  New  York 
alone  that  such  things  are  carried  on.  Committees 
in  nearly  every  other  large  city,  though  ultimately 
"whitewashing"  the  authorities,  exposed  enough  rot- 
tenness to  satisfy  the  most  credulous. 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND  PROPERTY.  63 

"A  little  investigation  of  the  yearly  services  of 
policemen  in  the  city  of  Boston  affords  interesting 
food  for  thought  in  this  connection.  In  this  city  of 
nearly  half  a  million  of  'all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men' 
there  have  been  no  more  than  508  and  no  less  than 
310  cases  of  breaking  and  entering  buildings,  in  any 
one  year  from  1887  to  1892.  And  in  this  same  city, 
within  the  same  period,  there  have  been  no  more  than 
140  cases  of  robbery  in  any  one  year  and  no  less  than 
100.  But  the  following  remarkable  fact  is  true  of 
each  year.  From  1,700  to  over  2,000  innocent  persons 
—the  majority  of  whom  are  foreigners  and  half  of 
whom  are  minors— are  arrested  without  warrant, 
purely  on  suspicion,  disgraced  by  unjust  arrest  and 
imprisonment,  and  then  turned  loose  without  redress! 
This  happens  with  almost  the  regularity  of  clock  work. 
Read  the  record  as  found  in  the  police  reports: 

Year  1888  1889  1890  1891  1892 

Arrested  on  suspicion.  1,784  2,266  1,861  1,819  1,943 

Discharged 1,778  2,263  1,858  1,817  1,929 

Held  for  trial 6  3  3  2  14 

"But  this  is  not  all.  In  the  year  1890,  37,000  people 
(in  round  numbers)  were  arrested  with  and  without 
official  warrant,  only  2,000  of  whom  received  im- 
prisonment after  trial.  In  1891,  41,000  were  arrested, 
only  3,000  of  whom  received  imprisonment.  In  1892, 
48,000  were  arrested,  only  7,000  of  whom  received 
imprisonment.  The  average  yearly  amount  of  prop- 
erty stolen  is  $95,000.  To  recover  this  we  have  an 
expenditure  of  $1,170,000— that  is,  on  the  assumption 
that  property  protection  is  the  chief  province  of  the 
police. 

"Now,  considering  that  there  are  only  about  500 
persons  each  year,  in  a  population  of  500,000,  whose 
property  is  in  danger,  and  considering  that  no  one  of 


64  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

this  population  of  half  a  million  can  be  assured  that 
he  or  she  will  not  be  one  of  the  500  bound  to  be 
robbed  in  spite  of  supporting  an  expensive  police,  is 
it  not  a  legitimate  question  whether  or  no  protection 
of  property  is  worth  paying  for  under  present  con- 
ditions?" (Ellen  Battelle  Dietrick  in  "The  Twentieth 
Century.") 

This  statement  says  nothing  of  the  blackmail  col- 
lected by  the  police.  This  item  alone  would  swell 
"the  cost  of  protection"  enormously.  If  this  is  the 
way  the  State  manages  things— and  of  this  there  can 
be  no  doubt — it  is  surely  time  private  enterprise  had 
a  turn.  It  can  hardly  do  any  worse,  and  I  hope  to 
show  that  it  will  do  much  better. 

In  nearly  every  large  city  business  men  either  em- 
ploy special  night  watchmen,  or  else  subscribe  to  some 
merchants'  police  company,  in  order  to  have  their 
stores  protected.  Here  are  men  who  are  compelled  to 
pay  the  State  for  protection  that  is  so  inadequate  and 
worthless,  that  they  voluntarily  pay  a  private  institu- 
tion to  perform  the  same  services.  The  State  fails  to 
perform  its  duty  but  still  continues  to  collect  the 
money  for  it  by  force.  Meanwhile  private  enterprise 
steps  in  and  does  the  work  properly.  Is  there  any 
danger  that  a  community,  in  which  the  rights  of  life 
and  property  are  held  in  such  high  regard  that  men 
will  pay  twice  over  for  their  protection  rather  than 
go  without  it— is  there  much  danger  that  such  a  com- 
munity will  fail  to  protect  itself  from  crime  if  left 
to  do  so  without  State  intervention? 

The  work  of  insurance  companies  is  suggestive 
of  a  method  by  which  this  might  be  done.  If  the 
State  collects  taxes  from  you  to  save  your  house  when 
it  is  on  fire,  insurance  companies  will,  if  you  pay 
your  premiums,  reimburse  you  for  all  loss.  The 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND  PROPERTY.  65 

former  thrusts  its  services  on  you  unasked,  and  makes 
you  pay  for  them  whether  you  want  them  or  not. 
The  latter  is  a  purely  voluntary  arrangement,  and  is 
perfectly  willing  to  leave  you  alone  if  you  do  not 
molest  it. 

There  are  accident  insurance  companies  which  in- 
sure elevators.  Should  any  person  get  hurt  while 
riding  in  an  elevator  so  insured  and  sue  the  owner 
of  the  building,  the  insurance  company  will  settle  the 
whole  matter  and  pay  such  damages  as  may  be 
awarded.  In  Colorado — I  don't  know  how  it  may  be 
in  other  States— there  is  no  State  elevator  inspector, 
consequently  insurance  companies  inspect  the  eleva- 
tors themselves  and  issue  proper  certificates.  These 
companies  have  everything  depending  upon  the  cor- 
rectness of  their  inspection.  The  loss  of  large  sums  of 
money  and  the  shaking  of  public  confidence  are  the 
penalties  they  must  pay  for  mistakes.  So  their  cer- 
tificates are  far  more  reliable,  and  command  much 
greater  public  confidencr  than  those  of  irresponsible 
State  boiler  inspectors  o.  Jtate  inspectors  of  mines, 
who  have  nothing  to  lose  by  issuing  as  many  certifi- 
cates as  are  demanded.  The  experience  of  all  who 
have  had  any  dealings  with  State  inspectors  teaches 
them  that  they  are  nearly,  always  either  dishonest 
or  incapable  and  sometimes  both.  If  you  abolish  such 
offices,  those  who  have  a  vested  interest  in  the  inspec- 
tion will  have  it  performed  to  their  satisfaction  and 
at  their  own  cost.  As  soon  as  State  protection  is  re- 
moved, individual  enterprise  steps  in  and  affords  a 
better  article  at  less  cost. 

I  have  heard  it  asserted  that,  during  the  cholera 
scare  in  1893,  the  life  insurance  companies  gave  more 
money  for  the  protection  of  the  country  from  that 
disease,  than  did  the  United  States  Government.  I 


66  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

cannot  vouch  for  the  absolute  accuracy  of  this  state- 
ment, but  from  the  sums  given  by  some  of  the  largest 
concerns,  I  should  think  it  is  not  exaggerated.  One 
company  alone  gave  $40,000. 

Why  cannot  such  institutions  protect  our  persons 
and  property  from  theft  and  assault  as  well  as  from 
accidents,  fires,  storms,  etc.?  That  they  are  capable 
is  clearly  demonstrated  by  their  past  history.  The 
exorbitant  prices  that  they  charge  will  be  curtailed 
as  soon  as  the  monopolies  of  land  and  money  are  de- 
stroyed. 

Every  bicycle  rider  knows  of  insurance  companies 
which  insure  people  against  the  loss  of  their  wheels, 
and  the  excellent  work  they  do  in  recovering  stolen 
property  is  gaining  for  them  a  widespread  patronage. 
Other  companies  insure  houses  against  burglary.  Who 
ever  heard  of  a  State  doing  as  much?  At  best  it  will 
watch  your  premises,  and  if  you  are  robbed  it  will  try 
to  catch  the  criminals.  But  the  idea  of  reimbursement! 
Who  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing?  These  insurance 
companies  sometimes  rely  upon  the  State  officers  for 
the  protection  of  their  clients'  property  but  more  often 
upon  their  own  special  watchman. 

It  is  surprising  how  easily  people  will  get  what 
they  want  without  State  interference  if  the  State  will 
only  let  them  do  it.  The  best  way  to  protect  a  man  is 
to  let  him  protect  himself. 

On  two  occasions  during  the  police  board  troubles 
which  occurred  in  Denver  in  the  Spring  of  1894 
(of  which  more  will  be  said  later),  the  entire  police 
force  was  suddenly  called,  late  in  the  afternoon,  to 
guard  the  City  Hall  through  the  night.  This  left  the 
city  without  any  police  protection.  But  a  demand 
nearly  always  creates  a  supply.  A  committee  of  citi- 
zens, which  had  been  organized  to  maintain  peace. 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND  PROPERTY.  67 

employed  Pinkertons  to  guard  the  morals  of  the  com- 
munity. Thus  private  enterprise  steps  to  the  front 
and  fills  the  "functions  of  the  State"  after  that  de- 
crepit old  institution  has  failed. 

Pinkerton  men  have  a  very  bad  name,  especially 
among  labor  leaders.  But  this  is  due  to  the  action 
taken  by  them  in  labor  troubles.  This  in  turn  is  due 
to  the  economic  system  which  creates  those  troubles. 
Once  solve  the  economic  problem  and  you  trim  the 
claws  of  private  enterprise,  rendering  it  incapable 
of  great  evil,  while  retaining  its  good  qualities.  But 
even  now  Pinkerton  men  are  not  one  whit  less  re- 
sponsible than  ignorant  ward  politicians  in  brass  but- 
tons and  blue  coats.  Pinkertons  derive  their  sup- 
port only  from  the  men  who  employ  them,  whereas 
policemen  are  paid  as  much  by  the  victims  of  their 
tyranny  as  by  those  that  tyranny  benefits.  The  ill 
repute  in  which  Pinkertons  are  held  is  in  itself  an 
argument  in  their  favor.  If  a  man  is  unjustly  as- 
saulted by  one,  he  has  no  compunction  at  resisting 
him.  But  if  he  is  unjustly  clubbed  by  a  brutal  police- 
man, he  has  the  glorious  remembrance  that  he  himself 
is  paying  for  the  club  which  hits  him,  and  so  he  is 
deterred  from  resistance  by  a  superstitious  veneration 
for  the  idol  of  his  own  creation. 

Such  institutions  as  I  have  suggested  would  derive 
their  support,  both  financial  and  moral,  from  their 
subscribers.  Any  that  were  unjust  or  tyrannical 
would  soon  lack  patronage,  and  so  competition  would 
give  us  the  best  article  at  the  lowest  cost,  in  the 
administration  of  justice  as  in  everything  else. 

The  oft  quoted  argument  that  this  is  merely  abol- 
ishing the  State  in  order  to  establish  a  lot  of  little 
States  is  hardly  worthy  of  comment.  These  institu- 
tions lack  all  the  elements  which  are  essential  char- 


68  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

acteristics  of  the  State.  The  State  is  primarily  in- 
vasive, these  are  defensive.  The  State  is  founded  on 
compulsory  co-operation,  while  these  are  distinctively 
voluntary.  The  State  claims  absolute  control  over 
all  within  its  borders,  while  these  permit  the  freest 
competition.  In  other  words,  one  is  the  State,  and 
the  other  an  honest  business  undertaking.  What  we 
do  demand,  if  you  wish  to  put  it  that  way,  is  that 
the  State  shall  restrict  itself  to  the  protection  of  per- 
son and  property  and  the  maintenance  of  Equal  Free- 
dom, and  then,  in  conformity  with  that  principle, 
cease  to  compel  anyone  to  support  it.  If  you  wish 
to  call  what  is  left  "a  State,"  our  only  disagreement 
will  be  on  the  use  of  the  word. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  some  people  will,  under 
such  a  system,  occasionally  reap  a  benefit  for  which 
they  do  not  pay.  But  this  seems  to  be  the  inevitable 
with  everything  we  do.  If  I  improve  the  lot  on  which 
I  live,  I  make  the  surrounding  property  more  valu- 
able. If  I  dress  neatly  I  help  to  make  the  town  where 
I  reside  a  more  pleasant  place  to  live  in.  These  bene- 
fits are  purely  incidental.  If  a  protective  association, 
by  making  crime  more  difficult,  incidentally  renders 
the  property  of  people  who  do  not  subscribe  to  it 
more  secure,  surely  no  harm  is  done!  If  a  man  re- 
fuses to  patronize  such  an  association  he  need  not 
expect  any  special  service  from  it.  If  a  stranger  was 
being  robbed,  however,  such  associations  would  usu- 
ally find  it  to  their  advantage  to  render  him  assistance 
in  cases  of  emergency,  and  take  chances  of  collect- 
ing afterwards.  If  the  stranger  refused  to  pay  he 
would  be  extremely  foolish,  as  he  need  then  never 
expect  any  such  help  in  future.  The  protective  asso- 
ciation would  "black-list"  him,  so  to  speak,  and 
probably  notify  other  associations  of  their  action.  In 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND  PROPERTY.  69 

this  manner  the  man  would  find  himself  abandoned, 
and  he  would  soon  become  the  prey  of  criminals. 
But  these  are  only  very  exceptional  cases  hardly 
worthy  of  consideration. 

Many  people  seem  to  fear  that  with  the  existence 
of  several  different  protective  associations  in  the  same 
city,  there  will  be  incessant  conflict  between  them. 
But  as  each  will  be  endeavoring  to  get  the  largest 
possible  number  of  patrons,  each  will  endeavor  to 
follow  the  policy  that  is  most  universally  approved. 
The  ordinary  business  man  does  not  lie  awake  in  the 
small  hours  of  the  morning  pining  for  civil  war.  So 
the  probabilities  are  that  protective  associations  will 
not  attempt  to  place  such  an  expensive  commodity 
upon  the  market  when  there  is  no  demand  for  it. 

"The  history  of  Mohammed's  life  shows  us  several 
instances  in  which  a  city  is  inhabited  by  two  or  more 
independent  tribes,  and  the  different  sections  of  the 
city  go  to  war  with  each  other.  But  it  does  not 
appear  that  they  were  more  disorderly,  or  fought 
more,  than  the  tribes  of  the  same  turbulent  blood  in 
other  circumstances.  At  least,  the  system  was  able 
to  live,  and  give  satisfaction  to  those  who  lived  under 
it,  till  overthrown  by  a  power  which  also  overthrew 
great  empires.  This  ought  to  be  an  answer  to  those 
who  think  that  two  police  agencies  cannot  co-exist  in 
the  same  place;  for  there  never  was  a  people  who 
'needed  a  strong  government'  more  than  these  Arabs. 

"But  this  system  has  been  changed  in  the  direc- 
tion of  greater  liberty.  A  man  can  now  change  his 
citizenship  and  the  laws  to  which  he  is  subject,  when- 
ever he  chooses— provided  he  will  leave  his  country. 
Now,  imagine  what  some  fine  old  Tory  of  the  clan 
system  would  have  said  if  this  change  had  been 
proposed  to  him.  'How  Anarchistic!  A  man  would 


70  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

be  able  to  escape  from  all  the  laws  that  bind  him 
by  simply  running  away!  Law  and  order  would 
utterly  cease!'  But  the  world  has  survived  it.  Anar- 
chism proposes  to  increase  liberty  further  by 
removing  the  condition  that  a  man  must  leave  his 
country.  This  would  introduce  no  difficulty,  it  seems 
to  me,  that  the  world  has  not  got  along  with  fairly 
well  in  one  or  another  of  the  systems  which  have 
existed. 

"But  why  go  into  ancient  history?  Kansas  City 
is  mueh  handier.  The  State  line  runs  right  through 
the  edge  of  the  city,  among  popular  streets.  Men  who 
live  on  the  same  street  are  subject  to  different  laws, 
and  look  for  protection  to  different  powers.  Kansas 
has  prohibition;  but  where  the  streets  run  into  Kansas 
saloons  are  built  up  to  the  State  line.  The  theoretical 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  Missouri  policeman's  chas- 
ing a  man  into  Kansas  are  much  greater  than  those 
in  the  way  of  two  Anarchistic  associations  exercising 
police  power  on  the  same  ground.  But  Kansas  City 
claims  to  be  a  highly  prosperous  place. 

"When  New  York  and  Jersey  City  are  connected 
by  tunnel  or  bridge,  nearly  the  same  predicament 
will  arise.  The  impossibilities  of  Anarchism  are 
about  to  be  introduced  in  New  York.  Why  do  not  the 
defenders  of  public  order  protest  against  the  im- 
provements ? 

"Worse  yet.  Under  Anarchy  every  man  would 
be  subject  to  his  neighbor's  association  to  this  extent, 
that  the  association  could  punish  him  for  clearly  in- 
vasive acts.  But  to-day,  in  every  civilized  country, 
there  is  a  large  body  of  men  who  are  under  no  law 
whatever.  Envoys  and  consuls  are  responsible  to  no 
one  but  the  government  which  sends  them.  Cromwell 
once  hanged  an  ambassador  for  murder,  but  no  one 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON   AND  PROPERTY.  71 

ever  dared  follow  the  example.  If  a  consul  commits 
a  crime  here,  all  we  can  do  is  politely  to  request  the 
consul's  royal  master  to  recall  him  as  a  persona  non 
grata,  and  to  punish  him  at  home  in  such  a  way  as 
may  seem  adequate.  This  privilege  extends  to  the 
foreign  representative's  retinue  also,  including,  I  be- 
lieve, even  household  servants. 

"It  is  the  uniform  practice  of  Christian  countries 
to  maintain  as  against  non-Christian  countries  the 
ancient  principle  that  their  subjects  in  a  foreign  coun- 
try are  not  subject  to  the  laws  of  that  country.  This 
privilege  is  always  provided  for  in  treaties.  Hence 
the  European  in  such  a  country  is  bound  by  no  law 
but  such  as  his  consul  will  enforce.  In  places  like 
Cairo  and  Jerusalem  there  are  considerable  colonies 
of  at  least  half  a  dozen  nationalities,  each  of  which 
is  responsibe  solely  to  its  consul.  I  never  heard  of  a 
proposition  to  unite  all  the  Europeans,  not  to  say  all 
the  city,  under  a  single  authority."  (S.  T.  Byington 
in  "Liberty,"  5  May,  1894.) 

We  often  find  that  this  very  evil  which  is  so  much 
feared  under  Anarchy  is  not  unknown  to-day.  For 
example:  the  Governor  of  Colorado  has  the  right  to 
appoint  and  discharge  members  of  the  Denver  Fire 
and  Police  Board.  When  he  determined  to  exercise 
this  power  in  the  Spring  of  1894,  the  members  he  had 
discharged  called  upon  the  police  force  to  protect 
them  in  their  offices.  At  this  the  Governor  called  upon 
the  State  militia,  and  subsequently  upon  the  Federal 
troops,  to  execute  his  order.  But  the  Police  Board 
was  in  possession  of  the  field.  On  the  housetops,  at 
every  window  and  scattered  among  the  spectators 
were  men  armed  with  revolvers,  Winchesters  and  dy- 
namite ready  to  fight  the  troops.  Whereupon  the 
Game-Warden,  fearing  that  the  rights  of  sportsmen 


72  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

might  be  trampled  upon,  organized  a  small  army  of 
deputies  to  assist  the  Governor.  After  three  days  of 
excitement  it  was  decided  to  await  the  action  of  the 
courts.  The  peaceable  citizens  nad  the  privilege  of 
paying  the  salaries  of  all  concerned  upon  both  sides. 

A  similar  trouble  has  recently  occurred  in  Omaha. 
Another  scene  of  the  same  kind  was  witnessed  in 
Topeka  in  1893,  when  the  Populists  attempted  to  or- 
ganize the  State  Legislature,  in  order  to  elect  a  United 
States  Senator.  Under  similar  circumstances  the  same 
trouble  arose  in  Colorado  in  1891.  No  doubt  many 
other  instances  could  be  given.  From  these  facts  we 
find,  that  while  in  modern  times  there  never  has  been 
any  actual  conflict  between  different  police  associa- 
tions, or  associations  under  the  command  of  different 
men,  operating  in  the  same  city,  yet  there  have  been 
serious  disagreements  which  almost  resulted  in  open 
hostilities.  But  these  disagreements  have  in  every  case 
been  due  to  the  endeavor  of  men  to  secure  political 
power.  This  would  be  impossible  if  political  power 
ceased  to  exist  owing  to  the  abolition  of  the  State. 

"But  who  will  perform  the  legislative  function 
when  the  State  is  abolished?"  is  another  frequent 
question.  "You  surely  would  not  entrust  that  to 
Pinkerton  or  his  fellows!"  Most  assuredly  not.  When 
a  person  subscribes  to  a  protective  association,  a 
clause  might  well  be  inserted  in  the  contract  by  which 
the  subscriber  agrees  to  serve  as  a  juror  whenever 
he  is  called  upon  to  do  so.  When  a  prisoner  is  to  be 
tried,  a  jury  will  then  be  selected  by  lot  from  among 
all  the  subscribers  of  the  association.  This  jury  will 
then  judge  the  facts,  and  if  they  unanimously  find  the 
prisoner  guilty,  they  will  determine  what  punishment 
he  shall  receive.  Strange  as  such  a  proposition  may 
seem,  it  is  by  no  means  new.  The  original  jury  in 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND  PROPERTY.  73 

ancient  times  was  a  means  employed  by  the  people 
to  guard  themselves  against  the  tyranny  of  the  State. 
The  laws  were  enacted  by  the  ruling  powers,  but 
when  they  were  transgressed,  the  accused  was  tried 
by  "his  neighbors,"  who  rendered  a  verdict,  not  upon 
the  facts  alone,  but  also  upon  the  law,  and  decided 
the  penalty  in  case  of  conviction.  They  might  find 
that  the  facts  proved  the  prisoner  guilty  of  the  charges 
preferred,  but  that  the  law  was  tyrannical,  and  there- 
fore he  was  justified  in  violating  it. 

In  this  manner  the  jury  practically  possessed  a 
veto  power.  If  the  opinion  of  the  community  sup- 
ported the  law,  the  verdict  would  be  in  accordance 
with  it.  If  the  people  considered  the  law  bad,  they 
would  so  express  themselves  by  their  verdict.  Or 
they  might  see  fit  to  modify  the  interpretation  of  the 
law,  so  as  to  adapt  it  to  the  particular  case  which  they 
were  trying.  In  this  way  the  greatest  flexibility  can 
be  given  to  the  administration  of  justice.  With  these 
powers  the  jury-system  is  really  a  "safe-guard  of  free- 
dom." Without  them,  all  the  true  power  is  vested  in 
the  State.  The  jury  was  the  representative  of  the 
whole  people  in  a  truer  sense  than  are  legislative 
bodies  to-day.  They  were  not  elected — mere  repre- 
sentatives of  a  majority— but  were  taken  from  among 
the  whole  people,  as  a  handful  of  corn  is  taken  from 
the  sack  as  a  sample  of  the  whole. 

The  jury  trial  was  really  a  trial  by  the  people, 
as  contradistinguished  from  the  trial  by  the  State. 
That  its  powers  were  curtailed  by  the  perseverance  in 
tyranny  of  the  State  is  manifest  all  through  history. 
Now  the  jurors  are  fined  and  imprisoned  for  perjury, 
because  they  rendered  a  verdict  at  variance  with  the 
wishes  of  the  crown.  Now  the  selection  of  jurors  is 
given  to  judges,  sheriffs  and  other  employes  of  the 


74  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

king.  For  the  State  has  ever  held  itself  superior  to 
its  own  contracts,  from  the  time  King  John  evaded  the 
Magna  Charta,  to  the  time  every  town  in  this  re- 
public passes  laws  against  carrying  weapons,  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  notwithstanding. 

This  jury  system  practically  gives  the  people  a 
veto  power  over  the  acts  of  the  State.  It  fills,  in  a 
great  measure,  the  functions  of  the  Referendum  with- 
out the  red  tape  of  that  institution.  Unanimity  must 
be  required  in  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  or  the  idea  of 
a  trial  by  the  whole  people  is  absolutely  lost.  To  de- 
scend to  the  nose  counting  process  in  politics  is  bad 
enough,  but  in  the  administration  of  justice  it  is  awful 
to  contemplate.  As  soon  as  anything  is  left  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  majority,  the  minority  are  robbed  of  their 
individuality. 

Many  claim  that  jurors  picked  from  the  mass  of 
the  people,  having  no  special  training  in  the  law, 
would  be  incapable  of  administering  it.  This  rests 
upon  the  a  priori  assumption  that  the  law  is  good,  and 
is  really  begging  the  question.  The  jury  would  not 
have  to  determine  the  application  of  the  law  to  their 
particular  case,  but  the  equity  of  the  law,  especially 
in  its  bearings  on  the  case  on  hand.  In  Illinois  juries 
are  nominally  given  the  power  of  interpreting  the 
law  as  well  as  the  facts.  What  is  needed  is  a  jury 
which  can  judge  the  law  as  well  as  the  criminal. 
Should  the  jurors  be  appointed  by  the  officers  of  the 
State,  they  become  the  tools  of  the  State.  Should 
the  demand  for  professional  jurors  be  put  into  prac- 
tice, we  should  have  the  State  as  judge,  jury,  prose- 
cutor and  tyrant-in-chief,  with  the  people  left  to  de- 
fend themselves  as  best  they  could. 

The  way  in  which  jurors  are  selected  to-day  is 
alone  enough  to  condemn  the  present  system.  To  ex- 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND  PROPERTY.  75 

elude  a  man  because  he  is  convinced  that  the  law  is  in 
error  is  to  deprive  the  defendant  of  a  fair  trial.  It 
limits  the  jury  to  a  part  of  the  people,  and  to  that  part 
which  is  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  State.  Further- 
more, no  man  can  give  sociological  questions  much 
thought  without  arriving  at  some  opinions  on  these 
questions.  So  to  disqualify  a  juror  because  he  has 
formed  opinions  of  the  law,  is  to  make  intelligence  a 
disqualification.  Any  personal  prejudice  for  or  against 
the  prisoner,  which  would  be  strong  enough  to  prevent 
a  fair  consideration  of  the  facts,  should  of  course 
disqualify  a  juror;  but  not  an  opinion  of  the  right- 
eousness- or  iniquity  of  the  law. 

This  system  would  limit  the  powers  of  the  judge 
to  merely  presiding  at  the  trial,  to  preserve  order  and 
to  keep  the  cross-examination  from  wandering  from 
the  point  at  issue.  He  might  also  have  power  to  grant 
a  new  trial.  The  jury  would  possess  the  real  power, 
and  would  inflict  what  penalty  it  deemed  adequate. 
Certainly  errors  will  be  made,  but  under  such  a  sys- 
tem the  verdicts  will  coincide  as  nearly  as  possible 
with  the  opinions  of  the  community,  and  we  can  never 
hope  for  any  more  than  this.  The  administration  of 
justice  must  ever  be  dependent  upon  the  intelligence 
of  the  people. 

The  application  of  the  definite  principle  of  Equal 
Freedom  in  determining  doubtful  cases,  will  certainly 
not  cause  more  mistakes  than  our  present  haphazard 
method.  As  that  principle  is  applied  we  shall  gradu- 
ally learn  by  experience  the  solution  of  these  diffi- 
culties. The  number  of  doubtful  cases  will  grow 
smaller  as  our  experience  of  liberty  enlarges.  Mean- 
while I  must  agree  with  Mr.  Tucker,  "no  force  in 
doubtful  cases  unless  immediate  action  is  impera- 
tive." 


76  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

In  the  absence  of  law— except  perhaps  such  regu- 
lation as-  the  protective  association  may  have  made—- 
the jury  will  practically  make  the  law  to  suit  each 
each  individual  case.  Nor  will  this  be  such  a  stu- 
pendous undertaking  as  would  appear  at  first  sight 
Before  any  such  system  as  this  could  possibly  come 
into  practice,  a  much  clearer  idea  of  individual  lib- 
erty must  be  generally  entertained  than  is  current  in 
the  present  day.  With  the  principle  of  Equal  Free- 
dom as  a  guiding  maxim,  and  a  system  of  prison 
ethics  based  upon  that  law,  the  practical  difficulty  of 
deciding  the  punishment  for  each  crime  is  reduced 
to  a  minimum. 

It  is  commonly  asserted  that  the  criminal  has  no 
rights  that  we  are  bound  to  respect,  and  so  we  may 
treat  him  as  we  see  fit.  This  idea  is  radically  incon- 
sistent with  Equal  Freedom.  If  we  deprive  the  of- 
fender of  more  liberty  than  is  necessary  to  secure  the 
equal  liberty  of  all,  we  are  clearly  curtailing  the  full- 
est possible  amount  of  liberty  consistent  with  equal- 
ity of  liberty.  On  the  other  hand,  any  restraint  that 
is  inadequate  to  secure  the  liberty  of  others  is  unjust 
to  the  rest  of  the  community. 

The  only  just  definition  of  the  word  criminal  is, 
one  who  violates  the  liberty  of  another  by  a  crime 
committed  on  the  person  or  property  of  that  other. 
Crimes  against  property  can  always  be  easily  estim- 
ated in  money.  While  the  measuring  of  crimes 
against  person  in  the  same  manner  often  presents 
difficulties,  it  is  probably  the  most  just  manner  yet 
attempted  of  estimating  the  damage  caused;  at  least 
the  practice  of  doing  so  would  seem  to  justify  such 
a  conclusion.  Assuming,  then,  that  all  crimes  may  be 
approximately  measured  in  money,  Equal  Free- 
dom demands  that  the  criminal  be  compelled  to 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSON  AND  PROPERTY.  77 

make  full  restitution  to  the  injured  party.  Since  his 
crime  has  involved  the  expense  of  capturing,  try  ing,  and 
keeping  him  under  restraint,  he  must  also  pay  for  all 
this.  To  impose  these  charges  upon  someone  else, 
is  to  make  them  pay  in  part  for  his  crime.  To  require 
more  of  him  than  this  is  a  violation  of  his  liberty  for 
which  there  is  no  excuse.  There  is  no  reason,  save 
that  of  expediency,  why  his  jailors  should  provide 
labor  for  him  to  perform,  but  that  reason  will  be 
sufficient  to  induce  them  to  give  him  such  occupation 
as  they  can,  or  else  to  help  him  to  exchange  his  labor 
with  the  outside  world.  The  jury  will  merely  have 
to  determine  the  extent  of  the  damage  done  and  the 
minimum  period  of  incarceration.  The  jailor  will  then 
perform  his  duty  and  assist  the  prisoner  to  exchange 
his  labor  with  the  outside  world.  Of  the  product  of 
his  labor,  a  certain  portion  will  be  set  aside  to  defray 
the  cost  of  the  trial  and  the  prisoner's  board.  A  cer- 
tain portion  will  be  deposited  for  the  reimbursement 
of  the  victim,  and  the  rest  given  to  the  prisoner  for 
his  own  use.  If  he  so  desires,  any  of  this  latter  por- 
tion might  be  applied  to  either  of  the  other  purposes, 
with  a  view  to  shortening  the  periotLof  his  incarcer- 
ation. When  a  sufficient  amount  has  been  saved  by 
the  criminal  to  pay  all  the  costs  and  damages  assessed 
against  him,  he  might  then  be  released,  if  he  could 
induce  anyone  to  give  bail  for  his  future  good  be- 
havior—a task  of  no  great  difficulty  if  the  man  was  of 
previous  good  character,  but  which  would  present 
serious  obstacles  to  the  hardened  criminal. 

But  putting  aside  all  questions  of  justice  to  the 
criminal,  let  us  see  the  advantages  of  such  a  sys- 
tem. As  necessitarians,  we  must  lay  aside  all  sen- 
timentalism  as  well  as  all  idea  of  revenge  in  the 
treatment  of  criminals.  We  must  regard  them  sim- 


78  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

ply  as  machines  which  do  bad  work.  The  problem 
which  confronts  us,  is  how  to  mend  the  machine  so 
that  it  will  do  good  work  in  future,  not  how  to  make 
it  suffer  most  for  past  transgressions.  A  system  such 
as  that  here  advocated  is  most  admirably  adapted 
to  such  a  purpose.  It  tends  to  cultivate  habits  of  in- 
dustry, thrift  and  honesty,  and  so  to  transform  the 
erstwhile  criminal  into  a  useful  member  of  society. 

While  this  system  has  never  yet  been  tried,  Spen- 
cer tells  us  that  wherever  it  has  been  partially  at- 
tempted, the  success  which  has  attended  the  experi- 
ment is  sufficient  to  justify  the  whole  scheme. 

After  all  this  whole  question  of  defence  is  rela- 
tively unimportant.  I  would  not  have  taken  up  so 
much  space  discussing  it,  did  not  the  opponents  of 
Anarchism  lay  so  much  stress  upon  it.  In  all  proba- 
bility police  duty  will  be  the  "function"  of  the  State 
which  will  survive  the  longest.  The  economic  ques- 
tion will  most  likely  be  settled  long  before  the  po- 
liceman will  relinquish  his  club.  All  authorities 
agree  that  most  crimes  are,  directly  or  indirectly,  due 
to  poverty.  So  we  will  have  but  little  to  fear  from 
this  source  under  equitable  economic  conditions.  The 
establishment  of  such  conditions,  then,  is  of  the  first 
importance,  and  now  claims  our  attention. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


VALUE  AND  SURPLUS  VALUE. 


Before  it  is  possible  to  gain  a  clear  idea  of  what 
constitute  equitable  economic  conditions,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  understand  the  shortcomings  of  our  present 
system.  This  involves  an  analysis  of  the  occur- 
rences of  trade  and  commerce  as  they  exist  to-day. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  consider  that  value  is  derived 
from  the  power  of  wealth  to  gratify  desires.  This  is 
only  partially  true.  Certainly,  a  value  does  attach 
to  everything  on  account  of  its  utility,  but  this  is  a 
very  different  kind  of  value  from  that  which  attaches 
to  commodities  which  are  kept  for  sale.  The  latter 
are  valuable,  not  because  they  are  of  use  to  their 
owner,  but  because  he  can  exchange  them  for  some- 
thing else.  This  value  is  known  as  price,  or  exchange 
value;  that  is,  the  value  which  attaches  to  goods 
from  their  characteristic  of  exchangeability,  as  eon- 
tradistinguished  from  the  value  which  attaches  to 
them  from  the  use  to  which  they  may  be  put.  This 
latter  is  known  as  utility,  or  use  value.  It  will  be 
readily  seen  that  many  things  may  possess  great  use 
value,  while  possessing  no  exchange  value  whatso- 
ever. Air  is  absolutely  essential  to  our  existence, 


80  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

and  consequently  has  a  very  great  use  value,  but  as 
no  one  would  ever  buy  or  sell  it,  it  has  no  exchange 
value. 

The  term,  use  value,  denotes  the  average  utility  to 
the  community,  not  the  use  a  given  article  may  be  to 
a  certain  member  of  that  community.  This  latter 
varies  with  every  individual.  A  coat  is  of  greater 
use  to  the  man  for  whom  it  was  made,  than  to  the 
tailor  who  made  it.  It  is  upon  this  varying  quality 
of  usefulness  that  exchange  rests.  Exchange  only 
takes  place  when  each  party  to  the  exchange  ob- 
tains, or  thinks  he  obtains,  something  which  will  be 
more  useful  to  him,  than  that  with  which  he  parts. 
So  both  parties  expect  to  be  benefited  by  the  trans- 
action. 

The  price  of  goods  is  often  said  to  depend  upon 
the  relation  of  the  supply  to  the  demand.  As  the 
latter  increases  in  comparison  to  the  former,  so  the 
price  increases.  As  the  supply  increases  in  relation 
to  the  demand,  the  price  falls.  If  both  remain  sta- 
tionary, or  if  both  increase  or  decrease  in  the  same 
proportions,  the  price  remains  constant. 

Why  is  this?  It  has  been  noticed  above  that  the 
same  commodities  may  be  of  varying  degrees  of  use- 
fulness to  different  individuals.  We  can  even  go 
farther  than  this.  The  wants  of  each  individual  are 
various,  and  the  degree  of  usefulness  of  each  com- 
modity varies  in  proportion  as  it  is  applied  to  the 
gratification  of  a  more  or  less  pressing  need.  To  the 
man  who  has  no  clothes,  one  suit  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary. After  he  has  that  suit,  it  is  very  nice  for  him 
to  have  a  second,  so  that  he  can  change  his  clothes 
to  correspond  with  his  occupation.  But  the  second 
suit  is  of  less  vital  importance  to  him  than  the  first. 


VALUE  AND  SURPLUS  VALUE.  8l 

The  same  is  true  of  all  subsequent  suits.  It  is  upon 
this  difference  in  the  varying  usefulness  of  commodi- 
ties that  price  rests. 

Every  man  is  working  for  his  own  best  interests. 
He  always  endeavors  to  sell  in  the  dearest  market 
and  buy  in  the  cheapest.  The  man  dying  of  thirst  in 
the  desert  Avould  give  everything  he  possessed  for  a 
glass  of  water.  If  he  could  procure  it,  he  would  use 
it  for  drinking  only,  because  that  is  its  highest  use, 
being  the  use  which  is  most  essential  to  his  existence. 
Now  suppose  this  same  man  has  enough  water  to 
drink,  but  none  with  which  to  wash  himself.  He  will 
be  willing  to  give  a  good  deal  for  it  still,  but  not 
nearly  so  much  as  if  he  was  dying  of  thirst.  If  he 
has  enough  to  wash  himself,  his  next  demand 
will  probably  be  for  some  to  wash  his  clothes.  For 
water  for  this  purpose  he  will  be  willing  to  pay  still 
less.  If  he  is  where  water  is  comparatively  plenti- 
ful, he  will  want  some  perhaps  to  water  his  lawn, 
or  even  to  have  a  fountain  in  his  front  yard.  But  as 
each  of  these  needs  is  less  imperative  than  the  one 
which  precedes  it,  he  will  not  be  willing  to  pay  as 
dearly  for  water  for  a  fountain,  as  he  would  if  there 
was  hardly  enough  for  him  to  wash  himself.  If  he 
can  get  enough  to  supply  a  fountain  for  six  months 
for  a  few  dollars,  he  will  not  pay  $5.00  for  a  glass 
of  water  to  drink.  He  will  take  some  of  the  water 
from  his  fountain  for  this  purpose.  So  while  the  uses 
to  which  a  man  can  put  a  commodity  are  manifold 
and  of  different  degrees  of  necessity,  the  price  is  de- 
termined by  the  highest  desire  which  the  limitations 
of  the  supply  leave  him  unable  to  gratify.  As  the 
margin,  or  desires  which  are  left  unsatisfied,  in- 
creases, the  price  increases.  As  the  margin  de- 
creases, the  price  decreases.  Thus  it  is  the  "margin 
of  utility"  which  determines  the  price. 

6 


82  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

The  supply  of  raw  material  is,  in  most  cases, 
practically  unlimited.  How  is  it,  then,  that  the  sup- 
ply is  not  always  sufficient  to  gratify  all  desires,  and 
so  reduce  the  margin,  and  consequently  the  price,  to 
zero?  Simply  because,  while  every  man  is  desirous 
of  buying  in  the  cheapest  market,  every  one  is  also 
anxious  to  sell  in  the  dearest. 

Every  commodity  represents  to  the  producer  the 
embodiment  of  so  much  labor,  as  well  as  the  possi- 
bility of  a  certain  utility.  He  certainly  will  not  ex- 
change it  for  one  which  he  can  produce  with  less 
labor,  or  for  one  which  is  less  useful  to  him.  As  . 
similar  motives  actuate  all  with  whom  he  comes  in 
contact,  in  a  free  community  he  can  only  exchange 
his  commodity  for  another  which  cost  the  same  to 
acquire,  and  which,  while  possessing  greater  useful- 
ness for  him,  has  only  the  same  degree  of  social 
utility. 

If  an  article  suddenly  acquires  an  increased  util- 
ity, people  will  be  willing  to  give  articles  which  em- 
body a  great  amount  of  labor  in  order  to  obtain  the 
more  useful  article.  So  the  producers  of  that  article, 
wrill  be  able  to  reap  a  greater  reward  for  their  labor 
than  the  other  members  of  the  community.  This 
immediately  causes  a  number  of  the  producers  of 
other  commodities  to  leave  their  old  occupations  and 
engage  in  the  one  which  promises  higher  remunera- 
tion. Thus  the  supply  is  increased  to  meet  the  de- 
mand, until  the  equilibrium  is  once  more  established. 
So  likewise  the  converse  holds  good.  If  for  any  rea- 
son the  demand  for  any  commodity  decreases,  the 
wages  of  the 'producers  of  that  commodity  fall,  and 
many  of  them  will  seek  more  lucrative  positions. 
Thus  an  increase  in  the  demand  is  met  by  an  increase 
of  the  supply,  and  a  decrease  in  the  demand  by  a 


AND  SURPLUS  VAI^UK.  83 

decrease  of  the  supply.  So  while  exehaDge  values 
fluctuate  considerably,  they  always  teud  to  remain 
at  the  cost  of  acquisition.  The  operation  of  this  law 
is  often  hindered  by  such  artificial  restrictions  as 
trusts,  etc.,  which,  by  limiting  the  supply,  increase 
the  margin  of  utility  and  consequently  the  price. 

But  of  what  does  this  cost  of  acquisition  consist? 
If  labor  were  the  only  factor  in  production,  no  one 
would  be  able  to  obtain  anything  which  he  did  not 
produce,  unless  he  exchanged  for  it  some  article 
which  embodied  an  equal  amount  of  labor,  or  re- 
ceived it  as  a  free  gift.  But  there  are  other  factors 
which  must  be  taken  into  account.  In  the  first  place, 
it  is  necessary  to  apply  labor  to  land.  If  this  land 
is  monopolized,  the  holders  of  it  can  demand  a  very 
great  portion  of  the  product  of  the  labor  applied  to  it. 
Under  a  form  of  complete  monopoly,  the  only  limit  to 
this  tribute  is  the  portion  which  the  laborer  finds 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  life.  That 
it  does  not  reach  this  point  at  present,  is  due  to  the 
vast  areas  of  unoccupied  land  in  various  parts  of  the 
world. 

In  order  to  produce  anything  except  the  very  sim- 
plest forms  of  wealth,  money  is  required  to  effect 
the  necessary  exchange  of  labor.  If  a  man  has  a 
labor-saving  machine  which  increases  the  produc- 
tiveness of  the  community  ten-fold,  and  no  one  else 
can  obtain  that  machine,  or  any  substitute  for  it, 
without  the  consent  of  that  man,  he  will  be  able  to 
rent  it  for  at  least  nine  times  the  former  average 
productiveness  of  labor.  By  these  means  the  pro- 
ducer will  receive  twice  as  much  return  for  his  labor 
as  before,  but  the  owner  of  the  machine  will  receive 
more  than  four  times  as  much  as  the  producer.  As 
money  is  the  greatest  of  all  labor-saving  machines, 
for  it  is  representative  of  all  forms  of  capital,  those 


84  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

who  are  able  to  nioDopolize  money  are  able  to  reap 
the  lion's  share  of  all  the  advantages  of  civilization. 

Thus  the  twin  monopolies  of  land  and  money, 
by  means  of  their  tribute,  rent  and  interest,  prevent 
an  equal  exchange  of  the  products  of  labor.  Under 
free  conditions  A,  the  shoemaker,  would  exchange  a 
pair  of  shoes  for  a  coat  made  by  B,  the  tailor.  When 
rent  and  interest  exist,  A  has  to  pay  three  pairs  of 
shoes  for  a  coat,  and  B  pays  three  coats  for  a  pair  of 
shoes,  while  the  capitalist  and  the  landlord  each 
have  a  pair  of  shoes  and  a  coat. 

In  addition  to  rent  and  interest,  profit  and  taxes 
must  also  be  added  to  the  actual  amount  of  labor  em- 
bodied in  the  commodity— which  is  known  as  the 
cost,  or  labor  value,— before  the  cost  of  acquisition  is 
fully  accounted  for. 

By  profit  is  usually  meant,  the  difference  between 
the  price  which  a  merchant  pays  for  goods,  and  the 
price  at  which  he  sells  them.  But  this  is  not  a  suffi- 
ciently accurate  definition  for  economic  purposes. 
Such  profit  is  composed  largely  of  rent,  interest,  taxes, 
wages  and  the  necessary  expenses  of  business.  Eco- 
nomically speaking,  profit  is  that  which  is  left  be- 
tween the  cost  and  price,  after  the  factors  above 
mentioned  have  been  deducted.  Much  of  this  is  often 
due  to  some  special  privilege,  such  as  the  existence 
of  a  protective  tariff,  patent,  copyright,  or  other  sim- 
ilar form  of  monopoly.  But  it  depends  principally 
upon  the  existence  of  rent  and  interest.  With  the 
elimination  of  these  various  factors,  the  cost  of  ac- 
quisition will  depend  solely  upon  the  labor  value. 
Free  competition  will  then  force  the  price  down  to 
the  actual  labor  value,  making  cost  and  price  equal. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  labor  value  does  not 
necessarily  mean  the  actual  amount  of  labor  embod- 


AND  SURPLUS   VAI,UE.  85 

led  in  the  identical  article,  but  the  amount  of  labor 
necessary  to  produce  an  article  of  exactly  similar  and 
equal  utility. 

In  order  to  be  able  to  think  of  a  labor 
value,  it  is  necessary  to  treat  labor  as  an  abstract 
quantity.  In  reality,  of  course,  it  is  of  various 
degrees  of  quality.  But,  as  in  everything  else,  the 
qualitative  differences  can  be  stated  quantitatively. 
For  example,  we  say  that  one  gold  ring  is  twice  as 
pure  as  another,  consequently  the  former  is  worth 
two  of  the  latter.  So  with  labor,  it  can  all  be  meas- 
ured by  a  common  standard  of  intensity.  The  me- 
chanic, we  will  say,  has  spent  five  years  learning 
his  trade.  The  average  length  of  life  of  men  en- 
gaged in  the  same  trade,  is  such  as  to  allow  a  period 
of  twenty  years  of  usefulness.  It  is  no  very  difficult 
task  to  determine  how  much  more  wages  he  should 
receive  per  day,  than  the  man  who  has  not  spent 
those  five  years  learning  the  trade,  and  whose  period 
of  usefulnes  is  twenty-five  years.  Other  factors  have 
to  be  taken  into  consideration,  such  as  the  amount 
of  money  necessarily  expended  on  education,  the 
average  length  of  life  in  various  trades,  and  the  re- 
pulsiveness  of  different  occupations,  which  includes 
of  course  the  hardness  of  the  work.  So  in  reality, 
while  the  various  degrees  of  the  intensity  of  labor 
present  a  somewhat  complex  mathematical  problem, 
it  is  only  a  mathematical  problem  and  perfectly 
capable  of  solution.  This  is  all  that  concerns  us  at 
present.  It  is  not  necessary  to  work  out  all  these 
problems  in  order  to  see  that  such  a  thing  is  pos- 
sible. 

Exchange  has  here  been  spoken  of  as  existing 
directly  between  commodity  and  commodity.  In  civ- 
ilized countries  some  medium  of  exchange  is  used  to 
facilitate  the  process,  but  this  does  not  effect  the 


86  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

principles  involved.  To  say  that  a  pair  of  shoes  is 
worth  $4.00  and  a  coat  is  worth  $4.00,  is  to  say  that 
they  are  worth  each  other.  Nor  does  it  matter 
whether  each  is  worth  $1.00,  $4.00  or  $10.00,  the 
equality  of  value  between  them  is  still  maintained. 
The  coat  and  shoes  have  remained  constant  factors, 
while  their  price  as  measured  in  money  has  fluctu- 
ated. 

We  value  money  solely  for  what  it  will  purchase. 
We  would  not  accept  it  as  money,  if  it  was  not  capa- 
ble of  purchasing  what  we  need.  Therefore,  when 
anything  is  sold,  that  is,  exchanged  for  money,  it  is 
virtually  exchanged  for  such  other  commodities  as 
the  holder  of  that  money  may  desire.  This  exchange 
is  consummated  when  the  money  is  exchanged  for 
other  goods.  Economically  it  may  be  said  to  be 
complete  when  the  first  sale  was  made,  for  the  same 
reason  that  a  man  will  give  a  receipt  for  money 
when  he  receives  a  note  payable  thirty  days  from 
date,  though  he  cannot  collect  until  the  note  matures. 
Money  is  a  lien  upon  all  the  goods  for  sale  in  the 
community,  and  the  possession  of  it  is  prima  facie 
evidence  of  some  service  having  been  rendered  for  it. 
Thus  he  who  has  money  is  rich  only  from  his  stored 
up  capacity  of  buying,  and  that  capacity  becomes 
valuable  only  as  it  is  exercised.  So  all  exchange  may 
be  spoken  of  as  existing  directly  between  com'modi- 
ties  and  commodities. 

But  to  return  to  the  main  question.  It  has  been 
shown  that  rent,  interest,  taxes  and  profit  are  the 
elements  which  constitute  the  difference  between  the 
cost  of  acquisition  and  the  labor  value  of  commodi- 
ties—the difference  between  the  amount  of  labor  em- 
bodied in  a  commodity,  and  the  price  demanded  for 
it.  They  are  spoken  of  collectively  as  usury,  or 
surplus  value.  If  this  passed  directly  into  the 


VALUE  AND  SURPLUS  VALUE.  87 

hands  of  the  laborers,  the  evil  would  be  immater- 
ial. But  it  does  not,  and  that  is  where  the  trouble 
lies,  for  it  prevents  the  producers  from  buying  back 
as  much  as  they  produce.  It  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand the  extent  of  this  surplus  value,  until  attention 
is  drawn  to  the  large  fortunes  of  many  millionaires. 
A  very  large  proportion  of  the  wealth  of  the  country, 
is  owned  by  a  very  small  per  cent,  of  the  population, 
and  .that  small  portion  derives  incomes  from  its 
usury  which  are  far  in  excess  of  its  power  of  con- 
sumption, great  as  that  power  of  consumption  is. 
It  saves  a  surplus  annually  which  is  again  invested. 
The  result  of  this  is  that  surplus  value  has  ever  a 
tendency  to  increase  until  it  absorbs  all  the  wealth 
of  the  country.  As  a  result  of  this,  wages  ever  have 
a  tendency  to  decrease,  until  they  reach  the  lowest 
point  at  which  men  will  consent  to  work  and  to  re- 
produce their  kind.  So  great  is  the  amount  of  sur- 
plus value,  that  it  annually  exceeds  the  total  increase 
of  wealth  in  the  United  States.  Hence  the  periodical 
recurrence  of  times  of  general  bankruptcy  is  inevit- 
able as  long  as  surplus  value  exists. 

Another  effect  of  this  condition  of  affairs  is  seen 
in  this;  the  surplus  value  collected  by  the  capitalistic 
classes  exceeds  their  power  of  consumption,  so  the 
world  produces  more  than  it  consumes.  As  this  sur- 
plus increases,  a  time  comes  when  the  markets  of  the 
world  are  glutted,  factories  shut  down,  laborers  are 
thrown  out  of  employment  and  are  unable  to  pay 
their  debts,  small  stores  fail,  wholesale  merchants 
are  affected,  banks  are  unable  to  meet  the  sudden  de- 
mands made  upon  them,  and  confidence  is  destroyed. 
This  is  another  fruitful  cause  of  the  great  financial 
panics,  which  shake  the  business  and  industrial 
world  to  its  centre,  and  leave  the  rich,  richer  and  the 
poor,  poorer  than  before. 


88  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

The  immediate  result  of  such  panics  is  that  all 
securities  are  called  in.  Those  who  are  unable  to  pay 
are  forced  to  sacrifice  their  property  at  a  very  low 
figure,  and  those  who  buy  realize  large  profits  as  soon 
as  times  get  better.  Thus  panics  have  a  tendency  to 
further  centralize  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few. 
Just  after  a  panic,  however,  and  owing  to  the  calling 
in  of  securities,  large  sums  are  found  in  the  vaults 
of  capitalists.  Thus  the  money  market  is  glutted  and 
interest  falls  for  a  short  time.  All  other  forms  of 
usury  become  lower,  owing  to  the  general  depression, 
and,  by  degrees,  a  more  normal  condition  is  reached. 
Thus  it  is  evident  that  surplus  value  is  the  cause  of 
these  periodical  convulsions.  Abolish  surplus  value 
and  they  will  cease  to  exist. 

The  abolition  of  surplus  value  simply  means 
that  the  price  of  commodities  must  be  limited  by  the 
labor-cost  of  production.  In  other  words,  that  the 
product  of  an  hour  of  A's  labor  shall  be  able  to  pur- 
chase the  product  of  an  hour  of  B's  labor  of  equal  in- 
tensity— no  more  and  no  less.  This  is  the  great  Cost 
Principle  which  was  first  proclaimed  by  Josiah  War- 
ren, and  almost  immediately  afterwards  by  Proudhon 
and  Marx,  all  of  whom  arrived  at  this  conclusion  in- 
dependently and  without  any  knowledge  of  the  work 
of  either  of  the  others. 

'i'iiis  cost  principle  is  the  common  basis  that  un- 
underlies  all  forms  of  Socialism.  For  "Socialism,  as 
such  implies  neither  liberty  nor  authority.  The  word 
itself  implies  nothing  more  than  harmonious  relation- 
ship. In  fact,  it  is  so  broad  a  term  that  it  is  difficult 
of  definition.  .  .  .  The  word  Socialism  having 
been  applied  for  years,  by  common  usage  and  con- 
sent, as  a  generic  term  to  various  schools  of  thought 
and  opinion,  those  who  try  to  define  it  are  bound  to 


VALUE  AND  SURPLUS  VALUE.  89 

seek  the  common  element  of  all  these  schools  and 
make  it  stand  for  that,  and  have  no  business  to  make 
it  represent  the  specific  nature  of  any  one  of  them. 
.  .  .  Socialism  is  the  belief  that  the  next  impor- 
tant step  in  progress  is  a  change  in  man's  environ- 
ment of  an  economic  character  that  shall  include  the 
abolition  of  every  privilege  whereby  the  holder  of 
wealth  acquires  an  anti-social  power  to  compel  tri- 
bute." (Tucker,  Instead  of  a  Book,  p.  364.) 

Starting  from  this  common  basis  Socialists  divide 
into  two  distinct  armies;  State  Socialists,  who  hope, 
by  placing  all  industries  under  State  control,  to  make 
surplus  value  flow  into  the  pockets  o'f  the  laborers; 
and  Voluntary  Socialists  or  Anarchists,  who  maintain 
that  free  competition  is  the  one  thing  needful  to  the 
establishment  of  the  cost  principle.  These  are  the 
only  two  consistent  schools  of  reform.  They  alone 
go  to  the  bottom  of  the  evil  and  suggest  an  adequate 
remedy. 

As  long  as  surplus  value  exists,  all  schemes  for 
the  amelioration  of  the  laboring  classes  must  neces- 
sarily prove  futile.  They  are  merely  attempts  to  re- 
move the  effect,  while  leaving  the  cause  untouched. 
It  is  impossible  here  to  show  the  manner  in  which 
each  of  them  works.  One  or  two  examples  must  suf- 
fice. 

A  scheme  that  is  gaining  much  favor  in  certain 
circles,  is  the  organization  of  gigantic  co-operative 
companies.  The  object  of  these  concerns  is  to  abol- 
ish the  profit  of  at  least  one  middleman,  and  so  reduce 
the  price  of  goods  to  the  consumer.  In  order  to  do 
this  successfully,  it  is  necessary  to  conduct  the  com- 
pany on  strict  business  principles.  This  involves 
buying  goods  and  labor  at  the  best  possible  figure. 
It  is  upon  this  principle  that  the  Rochdale  companies 


90  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

have  been  conducted— at  least  so  Carroll  D.  Wright 
tells  us  in  his  report  on  Industrial  Depressions,— and 
it  is  more  than  probable,  that  it  is  to  this  strict  ad- 
herence to  business  principles  that  they  owe  their 
success.  Consequently  it  is  futile  to  expect  such  en- 
terprises to  increase  the  wages  of  the  laboring  classes, 
except  as  they  do  so  indirectly  by  enabling  them  to 
purchase  what  they  need  at  a  lower  figure. 

The  fact  that  a  co-operative  company  is  selling 
goods  below  the  market  price,  at  once  affects  that 
market  price.  Other  dealers  immediately  cut  their 
prices  so  as  to  retain  as  much  of  the  trade  as  possible. 
This  in  turn  necessitates  a  reduction  of  expenses, 
which  is  effected  by  a  cut  in  wages.  Prices  having 
been  reduced  on  many  staple  articles,  living  is  much 
cheaper  than  before.  So  men  will  live  on,  and  will 
accept,  lower  wages  than  formerly.  As  the  co-oper- 
ative company  is  forced  by  competition  to  buy  at 
the  most  advantageous  terms,  it  will  be  unable  to  do 
anything  to  maintain  the  old  rate  of  wages.  While 
these  concerns  may  reduce  the  cost  of  goods  to  the 
consumer,  they  limit  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
producer.  The  saving  in  profit  ultimately  involves 
a  corresponding  reduction  in  wages,  leaving  the  posi- 
tion of  the  wage-earners  much  as  it  was  before.  If 
any  saving  is  effected,  the  landlord  and  money- 
lender inevitably  reap  the  benefit.  The  cheapening 
of  living  at  any  place  is  liable  to  attract  people  to 
that  place — usually  people  with  small  but  permanent 
incomes— and  so  increases  the  rent  in  that  locality. 

Co-operation  may  be  a  good  thing  when  viewed 
from  the  standpoint  of  domestic  economy,  but  it  is, 
under  existing  conditions,  a  failure  from  the  social 
economist's  point  of  view.  On  a  small  scale,  it  may 


VALUE  AND  SURPLUS  VALUE.  91 

benefit  a  few  individuals.  But  as  it  becomes  more 
general,  it  at  once  begets  evils  which  counteract 
the  good  it  does. 

All  other  schemes  to  cheapen  the  cost  of  living 
operate  in  the  same  manner.  Attempts  to  increase 
the  wages  of  workers  by  artificial  restrictions  can 
be  shown,  by  similar  reasoning,  to  inevitably  result 
in  an  increase  in  the  price  of  commodities.  If  one 
trade  succeeds  in  gaining  higher  wages,  the  price  of 
goods  manufactured  by  the  trade  increases  and  the 
consumers  of  those  goods  have  to  pay  the  increase 
of  wages.  As  the  wage-earners  are  the  principal 
consumers,  such  attempts  result  in  the  benefit  of  one 
trade  at  the  expense  of  all  others.  If  the  same  pol- 
icy is  pursued  by  all,  the  increased  cost  of  living 
counteracts  the  rise  of  wages.  Until  the  cost  prin- 
ciple is  established,  it  is  futile  for  labor  to  waste  its 
energies  in  such  useless  struggles. 

To  expect  me"n  to  be  satisfied  with  the  cost  of  an 
article,  when  they  can  get  more  for  it,  is  absurd. 
So  the  cost  principle  will  only  be  established,  when 
the  conditions  of  commerce  are  such  that  no  one  will 
be  able  to  get  any  more. 

In  the  Fourth  Chapter  it  was  shown,  that  the 
laws  restricting  the  people  from  issuing  money  and 
from  using  vacant  land  were  incompatible  with 
Equal  Freedom.  As  these  laws  are  the  cause  of  rent 
and  interest  (as  will  be  shown  in  the  following  chap- 
ters) they  stand  equally  condemned  by  the  cost 
principle.  Nor  is  this  strange.  For  the  cost  principle 
is  but  the  economic  statement  of  the  same  fundamen- 
tal principle  of  equity,  which  is  stated  ethically  by 
the  principle  of  Equal  Freedom. 

Men  cannot  be  equally  free  when  one  is  able  to 
live  off  the  toil  of  another.  Every  product  of  labor 


92  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

is  created  only  with  the  expenditure  of  a  certain 
amount  of  vital  force.  So  he  who  robs  me  of  the 
product  of  my  labor,  robs  me  of  a  portion  of  my  life. 

"When  throughout  a  society,  the  normal  relation 
between  work  and  benefit  is  habitually  broken,  not 
only  are  the  lives  of  many  directly  undermined,  but 
the  lives  of  all  are  indirectly  undermined  by  destruc- 
tion of  the  motive  for  work,  and  the  consequent  pov- 
erty. Thus  to  demand  that  there  shall  be  no  breach 
of  the  natural  sequence  between  labor  and  the  re- 
wards obtained  by  labor,  is  to  demand  that  the  law 
of  life  shall  be  respected."  (Spencer,  Essays,  v.  3, 
p.  165.) 

These  two  principles,  then— or  rather,  these  two 
statements  of  the  same  principle — are  the  rules  by 
which  we  must  be  governed  in  our  search  for  better 
conditions.  Sometimes  the  way  will  be  seen  more 
clearly  when  examined  from  one  point  of  view, 
sometimes  when  looked  at  from  the.  other.  If  either 
of  these  principles  is  permanently  violated,  the  other 
is  set  at  defiance,  and  panics,  commercial  stagnation, 
political  corruption  and  social  disasters  are  bound  to 
result. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


MONEY  AND  INTEREST. 


The  statements  made  in  regard  to  rent  and  inter- 
est in  the  preceding  chapters,  were  necessarily  brief 
and  unsatisfactory.  It  is  now  time  to  analyze  these 
matters  more  fully,  in  order  that  it  may  be  shown 
how  surplus  value  can  be  eliminated  without  denying 
equal  freedom.  In  order  to  do  this,  it  is  necessary, 
first  of  all,  to  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the  nature  and 
function  of  money. 

Primitive  man  made  everything  he  used  himself. 
As  he  became  civilized  labor  was  more  and  inore  di- 
vided, and  exchange  became  necessary.  At  first  this 
exchange  was  effected  by  pure  barter,  but  as  the 
system  grew  more  complex,  a  medium  of  exchange 
became  necessary.  Hence,  money  is  "any  medium  of 
exchange  devised  to  overcome  the  difficulties  attend- 
ing a  pure  system  of  barter."  (H.  Bilgram,  Study  of 
the  Money  Question,  p.  17.) 

At  first,  of  course,  men  picked  upon  a  certain 
commodity  to  perform  this  function.  In  different 
parts  of  the  world,  at  different  times,  many  different 
things  have  been  used,  but  of  all  others  gold  and  sil- 
ver seem  to  have  been  most  universally  employed. 


94  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

The  fact  that  so  many  other  things  have  been  used, 
is  proof  that  gold  and  silver  are  not  the  only  things 
capable  of  performing  this  duty.  What  then  are  the 
qualities  which  money  must  possess? 

In  order  that  anything  can  be  satisfactorily  used 
as  a  medium  of  exchange,  it  must  be  capable  of  ne- 
gotiating all  kinds  of  exchanges.  In  proportion  as-  it 
does  this,  it  is  good  money,  and  in  proportion  as  it 
fails  in  this  respect,  it  is  bad  money.  The  power  of 
money  to  negotiate  exchange,  must  necessarily  be  lim- 
ited by  the  willingness  of  all  people  to  accept  it  in  ex- 
change for  the  products  of  their  labor.  That  is  the 
best  money,  therefore,  which  will  be  most  widely 
accepted. 

No  one  will  accept  money  which  does  not  either 
possess  intrinsic  value  in  itself,  or  else  represent 
intrinsic  value  which  can  be  obtained  for  it.  The 
former  kind,  that  is,  money  which  possesses  intrinsic 
value  in  itself  to  its  full  face  value,  we  will  call  for 
convenience  "commodity  money."  The  other  kind, 
that  is,  money  which  merely  represents  intrinsic 
value  that  can  be  obtained  for  it,  we  will  call  "credit 
money." 

No  piece  of  money  can  circulate  forever.  It  must 
ultimately  be  redeemed  in  something,  or  the  person 
who  last  holds  it  must  lose  that  which  he  gave  in  ex- 
change for  it.  Commodity  money,  of  course,  can  be 
redeemed  at  any  moment,  as,  possessing  a  commod- 
ity value  equal  to  its  value  as  money,  it  can  always 
be  used  as  a  commodity  by  its  possessor  without  loss. 
But  credit  money  is  different.  It  must  ultimately 
return  for  redemption  to  the  person,  or  corporation, 
which  issued  it.  If  he  does  not  redeem  it,  he  will 
have  received  something  for  nothing,  while  the  last 
holder  of  the  money  will  get  nothing  in  exchange  for 
the  goods  he  sold  for  it.  Consequently,  no  one  will 


MONEY   AND   INTEREST.  95 

accept  credit  money  unless  it  can  be  redeemed  by  its 
issuer,  and  unless  they  also  know  that  it  can  be  so 
redeemed.  For  if  not,  how  can  anyone  tell  that  he 
will  not  be  the  one  to  lose?  Thus  money  will  not  be 
accepted  unless  it  is  known  to  be  based  upon  value, 
and  unless  it  is  accepted,  it  cannot  be  used  as  a  me- 
dium of  exchange. 

One  other  thing  is  still  necessary.  A  man  must 
not  only  know  that  he  can  get  goods  for  the  credit 
money  he  accepts,  he  must  also  know  how  much  of 
these  goods  he  can  get.  But  as  a  certain  amount  of  a 
given  commodity  may  be  worth  more  one  day  than 
it  is  the  next,  he  will  want  to  know,  not  how  much 
wheat,  for  instance,  he  can  get  for  his  money,  but 
what  value  in  wheat  he  can  get.  Now  this  value 
must  be  measured  in  something.  As  all  commodities 
fluctuate  in  value  more  or  less,  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  obtain  a  perfectly  equitable  standard  of  value. 

Prom  these  remarks  it  will  be  seen  that  a  stand- 
ard of  value  and  a  basis  of  value  are  two  entirely 
different  things.  With  commodity  money,  of  course, 
these  two  separate  functions  are  performed  by  the 
commodity  of  which  the  money  is  made.  But  this 
is  not  so  of  credit  money.  A  Greenback  is  based 
upon  Government  credit,  that  is,  the  willingness  of 
the  Government  to  accept  it  in  payment  of  all  debts 
due  to  it,  but  it  is  measured  in  gold.  A  silver  dollar 
is  based  partly  upon  the  value  of  the  silver  and  partly 
upon  Government  credit,  but  it  is  also  measured  in 
gold. 

There  is  no  reason  why  any  or  all  commodities 
may  not  be  used  as  a  basis  of  value.  But  it  would  be 
inconvenient,  though  by  no  means  impossible,  to  have 
several  standards.  People  get  accustomed  to  meas- 
uring values  .by  a  certain  standard,  and  it  would  oc- 
casion a  small  amount  of  annoyance  to  reckon  in  ac- 


96  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

cordance  with  any  other.  An  Englishman,  who  is  ac- 
customed to  reckoning  values  in  pounds,  shillings  and 
pence,  finds  it  a  little  inconvenient  to  reckon  in 
rupees  until  he  gets  used  to  it.  But  the  difficulty  of 
measuring  different  money  by  different  standards  is 
not  very  great,  when  it  is  known  by  what  standard 
each  piece  is  measured.  This  is  practically  done 
every  day  in  all  business  houses  that  have  transac- 
tions with  foreign  countries. 

This  explanation  of  the  nature  and  function  of 
money  in  no  way  explains  why  interest  is  paid. 
Many  theories  are  advanced  to  explain  this  phe- 
nomenon. To  attempt  to  combat  any  of  them  would 
be  out  of  place  in  a  brief  sketch  of  this  kind.  If  the 
explanation  which  I  shall  give  proves  satisfactory, 
all  conflicting  explanations  are  thereby  disproved. 
So  I  will  rest  my  case  with  that  explanation.  Nor  is 
it  worth  while  to  devote  space  to  ethical  considera- 
tions. Every  moral  philosopher  from  the  time  of 
Aristotle  to  the  present  day  has  condemned  usury  in 
every  form.  Even  the  defenders  of  interest  have 
never  dared  to  justify  their  theories  on  ethical 
grounds,  but  on  the  plea  that  it  is  unavoidable.  If 
this  proposition  can  be  disproved,  ethical  considera- 
tions will  hardly  be  sufficient  to  cause  men  to  pay  in- 
terest when  they  can  get  along  without  it. 

When  a  man  borrows  money,  he  pays  a  premium 
to  the  lender.  This  is  interest.  In  other  words,  in- 
terest is  "the  premium  paid  for  the  loan  of  money. 
.  .  .  This  must,  however,  be  qualified  in  order 
to  eliminate  the  insurance  on  the  risk  which  the 
lender  must  assume.  This  is  the  only  definition  of 
interest  that  does  not  already  attempt  to  explain  the 
cause,  thereby  prejudicing  the  impartiality  of  the 
argument."  (H.  Bilgram  in  Liberty,  22d  April,  1893.) 
Why  is  it  men  are  willing  to  pay  this  premium? 


MONEY   AND  INTEREST.  97 

The  great  function  of  money  is  to  mediate  ex- 
changes. In  our  present  complex  state  of  society, 
with  its  minute  subdivision  of  labor,  the  necessity  for 
some  such  medium  of  exchange  is  very  great.  It  is 
seldom  that  a  finished  article  is  made  entirely  in  one 
factory,  even  after  the  raw  material  is  taken  from 
its  natural  source.  Usually  all  that  is  done  in  most 
factories  is  to  advance,  by  one  small  stage,  the  pro- 
cess of  production.  When  this  is  done,  the  articles 
are  sold  to  another  manufacturer,  who  advances  the 
production  another  step.  Even  after  articles  are 
finished,  they  must  be  distributed  to  those  who  use 
them  before  they  can  finally  be  consumed.  The 
greater  the  division  of  labor  in  this  manner,  the 
more  complex  do  exchanges  become,  and  the  greater 
is  the  necessity  for  money.  But  the  division  of  labor 
in  the  production  of  all  commodities  is  not  the  same. 
With  some  it  is  greater  and  with  others,  less.  Con- 
sequently, all  exchanges  are  not  equally  complex, 
and  the  necessity  for  money  in  some  branches  of 
commerce  is  greater  than  it  is  in  others.  That  is  to 
say,  when  money  is  employed  in  certain  exchanges, 
the  labor  saved  is  greater  than  when  the  same  amount 
of  money  is  used  to  negotiate  other  exchanges. 

Let  us  suppose  an  ideal  community  of  a  thousand 
men  engaged  in  different  occupations,  but  without 
any  medium  of  exchange.  Let  us  suppose  that  each 
of  these  men  produces  value  equal  to  that  of  100 
bushels  of  wheat  per  month.  Owing  to  the  lack  of 
money,  labor  is  but  little  divided.  If  it  could  be  di- 
vided more  minutely,  some  occupations  would  be 
benefited  in  a  greater  degree  than  would  others. 
Let  us  suppose  that  the  greatest  benefit  to  be  derived 
is  equal  to  200  bushels  of  wheat  per  month  per  man. 
That  is  to  say,  certain  of  these  thousand  men  can, 
with  the  aid  of  money,  create  value  equal  to  that  of 


98  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

300  bushels  of  wheat  per  month,  and  without  it  the 
value  of  their  product  is  only  that  of  loo  bushels.  It 
will  certainly  pay  them  to  give  any  amount  less  than 
200  bushels  of  wheat  per  month  for  money  to  enable 
them  to  subdivide  their  labor.  They  would  gain  the 
difference  between  the  amount  they  paid  and  the 
200  bushels.  But  if  there  is  enough  money  in  the 
community  to  supply  all  those  whose  power  of  pro- 
duction is  increased  to  the  extent  of  150  bushels,  these 
last  would  rather  do  without  the  money  than  pay 
more  than  150  bushels  per  month  for  its  use.  For  if 
not,  their  net  \vages  would  be  less  than  before.  The 
owners  of  this  extra  supply  of  money  must  conse- 
quently be  content  with  a  premium  of  a  little  less 
than  150  bushels  per  month.  But  the  owners  of  the 
first  sum  were  getting  nearly  200  bushels  per  month. 
They  will  now  have  to  be  content  with  the  same 
amount  as  the  owners  of  the  fresh  supply  of  money, 
otherwise  these  latter  will  underbid  them  and  take 
their  customers  from  them.  Any  further  increase  in 
the  supply  of  money  will  produce  a  like  result.  Thus 
we  see  that  money,  like  everything  else,  is  applied 
first  to  the  needs  which  are  most  imperative  and  af- 
terwards to  those  which  are  less  so,  and  that  the  price 
paid  for  its  use  is  determined  by  the  least  productive 
use  to  which  it  is  put. 

With  an  increase  in  the  supply  of  money,  it  will 
be  put  to  a  still  less  productive  use,  until  the  point  of 
non-production  is  reached.  So,  other  things  being 
equal,  "the  premium  paid  for  the  loan  of  money"  de- 
creases as  the  supply  increases,  until  the  point  is 
reached  where  that  premilim  is  just  sufficient  to  cover 
the  cost  of  issuance  and  the  insurance  against  risk. 
It  cannot  permanently  fall  much  below  that  point. 
If  it  should,  those  engaged  in  issuing  money  would 
seek  more  lucrative  employment.  This  would  restrict 
the  supply,  and  the  rate  of  interest  would  increase. 


MONEY  AND  INTEREST.  99 

The  fact  that  after  a  financial  panic  the  rate  of 
interest  is  low,  is  in  apparent  contradiction  with  this 
theory.  The  cause  of  this  is  that,  during  the  panic, 
large  sums  of  money  are  withdrawn  from  circulation, 
and  business  is  brought  almost  to  a  standstill.  When 
the  panic  is  over,  these  large  sums  again  seek  invest- 
ment. But,  owing  to  the  stagnation  of  business, 
there  are  fewer  exchanges  to  be  conducted.  Hence 
the  amount  of  money  is  greater,  in  proportion  to  the 
demand,  than  at  normal  times.  So  this  fact,  far  from 
being  a  contradiction,  is  a  confirmation  of  the  theory 
here  advanced. 

One  serious  objection  offered  to  this  analysis  of 
interest  is  the  theory  that  the  exchange  value  of 
money,  like  that  of  all  other  commodities,  decreases  as 
its  supply  increases  and  vice  versa',  that  the  exchange 
value  of  money  is  its  purchasing  power;  and,  conse- 
quently, the  purchasing  power  decreases  as  the  sup- 
ply increases.  For  example,  suppose  that  waen  there 
is  $20  per  capita  in  circulation,  a  pair  of  shoes  cost 
$4,  and  a  coat  costs  $4.  When  the  money  iu  circula- 
tion is  doubled,  that  is,  when  there  is  $40  per  capita 
in  circulation,  the  shoes  will  cost  $8,  and  the  coat 
will  cost  $8.  So,  though  the  amount  of  money  in 
circulation  is  doubled,  its  purchasing  power  decreases 
50  per  cent.,  and  the  number  of  exchanges  the  in- 
creased volume  of  money  is  capable  of  mediating, 
is  exactly  the  same  as  the  number  that  could  be  nego- 
tiated by  the  smaller  amount. 

Sometimes  it  is  even  asserted  that,  if  there  was 
only  one  dollar  in  the  world  it  would  be  as  capable 
of  mediating  all  exchanges  as  is  all  the  money  in  cir- 
culation to-day,  provided  it  was  equally  capable  of 
division. 

The  only  conception  we  now  have  of  a  dollar  is 
25.8  grains  of  gold  9-10  fine.  If  there  were  only  25.8 


100  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

grains  of  gold  (one  dollar)  in  the  world  for  use  as 
money,  the  value  of  that  gold  must  be  either  greater 
or  less  than,  or  equal  to,  that  of  the  same  amount  of 
gold  to-day.  That  is  to  say,  it  must  be  capable  of 
purchasing,  or  be  exchangeable  for,  a  greater,  or 
less,  or  equal  amount  of  commodity. 

If  it  be  assumed  that,  under  the  given  conditions, 
the  purchasing  power  of  the  gold  is  equal  to  that  of 
the  same  amount  to-day,  how  can  it  be  capable  of 
mediating  all  exchanges  which  now  require  so  much 
more  gold?  If  the  purchasing  power  of  the  gold  re- 
mains constant,  how  can  the  money  based  upon, 
measured  in,  and  made  of,  that  gold  have  an  in- 
creased purchasing  power?  The  absurdity  of  such  a 
proposition  is  evident. 

If  it  were  possible  that  the  price  of  gold  could 
depreciate  under  such  conditions,  the  same  absurdity 
would  be  manifest  in  a  greater  degree.  So  the  only 
meaning  that  can  be  attached  to  the  saying  that  one 
dollar  would  be  capable  of  mediating  all  exchanges 
presupposes  an  increase  in  the  purchasing  power  of 
the  gold,  owing  to  the  decrease  in  the  supply.  It  is 
only  when  looked  at  from  this  point  of  view  that  the 
proposition  means  anything.  If  the  price  of  gold  in- 
creases as  the  supply  decreases,  the  total  value  of  all 
the  gold  in  the  world  remains  unchanged,  regardless 
of  the  supply.  For  example,  let  us  say  there  are  at 
a  certain  time  25,000  grains  in  the  world.  This  gold 
is  capable  of  purchasing,  say,  10,000  bushels  of 
wheat  Suddenly  the  supply  of  gold  shrinks  until 
only  25  grains  are  left.  These  25  grains  are  now 
1,000  times  as  valuable  as  they  were  before,  other 
things  being  equal,  and  consequently  capable  of  pur- 
chasing as  much  as  the  original  25,000  grains.  If 
this  is  so,  the  25  grains  are  as  good  a  basis  of  value 
as  were  the  original  25,000  grains,  and  consequently 


MONEY  AND   INTEREST.  IOI 

money  with  an  equal  purchasing  power  can  be  based 
upon  them.  That  is  to  say,  the  amount  of  money 
in  circulation  remains  unchanged.  It  is  not  the  in- 
crease, or  decrease,  of  the  amount  of  money  in  cir- 
culation that  determines  its  purchasing  power,  but 
the  increase,  or  decrease,  of  the  standard  of  value. 

Practically  a  dollar  is  capable  of  infinite  division. 
Instead  of  issuing  notes  and  subsidiary  coin  for 
fractions  and  multiples  of  25.8  grains  of  gold,  it  is 
just  as  easy  to  issue  them  for  fractions  and  multi- 
ples of  a  portion  of  a  grain.  A  corner  lot  in  San 
Francisco  cannot  be  moved  to  New  York.  Yet  a 
New  Yorker  can  purchase  a  lot  in  San  Francisco 
without  leaving  his  office.  All  that  needs  to  be  trans- 
ferred is  a  title  of  ownership.  So,  while  it  might 
be  difficult  to  transfer  one-millionth  part  of  a  grain 
of  gold,  it  is  quite  easy  to  transfer  a  title  to  the  own- 
ership of  that  amount.  And  this  is  all  that  is  nec- 
essary, if  the  title  be  good. 

Money  may  be  said  to  be  a  title  to  the  owner- 
ship of  a  certain  specified  amount  of  commodity. 
If  that  specified  amount  changes, — that  is,  if  the 
standard  and  basis  of  value  vary,— of  course  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  money  is  anected.  If  the  title  is 
impaired, — that  is,  if  the  amount  specified  cannot  ulti- 
mately be  realized  for  the  money,— of  course  it  depre- 
ciates. But,  if  the  standard  of  value  remains  con- 
stant and  the  basis  of  value  is  sufficient,  I  fail  to  see 
how  the  volume  of  money  can  affect  its  purchasing 
power.  Of  course,  if  more  money  is  issued  on  a 
given  basis  than  that  basis  will  justify,  depreciation 
must  result. 

With  gold  coin  the  gold  is  both  the  basis  and  the 
standard  of  value,  and  the  commodity  is  transferred, 
instead  of  a  title  to  that  commodity.  From  the  long- 
continued  use  of  gold,  which  embodies  these  various 


102  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

functions,  much  confusion  of  tnought  has  arisen. 
Men  are  perpetually  confusing  the  title  of  ownership 
(that  is,  the  money),  the  commodity  which  that  title 
represents  (that  is,  the  basis  of  value),  and  the  terms 
in  which  it  is  expressed  (that  is,  the  standard  of 
value).  These  are  three  distinct  things.  The  fact 
that  they  are  sometimes  embodied  in  one  article  in 
no  wise  alters  the  case. 

Suppose  all  the  gold  in  the  United  States  was  de- 
posited in  banks  and  all  exchanges  were  made  by 
means  of  checks.  Suppose  that  the  aggregate  depos- 
its amounted  to  $100,000,000,  and  the  total  amount 
of  checks  issued  was  only  $40,000,000.  Now,  suppose 
the  amount  of  checks  is  suddenly  doubled,  while  the 
amount  of  the  deposits  and  the  value  of  the  gold  re- 
main unchanged.  Will  those  checks  depreciate  in 
value?  If  so,  why?  This  is  a  condition  in  which  the 
basis  of  value  is  always  ample,  the  standard  of  value 
remains  unchanged,  but  the  amount  of  money  in  cir- 
culation is  doubled.  Unless  it  can  be  shown  that 
under  these  conditions  the  notes  will  depreciate, 
this  criticism  must  be  abandoned,  and  we  are  justified 
in  maintaining,  that  rate  of  interest  proper  will  be 
reduced  to  zero,  if  there  is  sufficient  money  in  circula- 
tion to  negotiate  all  exchanges. 

The  great  question  now  is,  how  can  the  volume 
of  money  be  increased?  Whatever  solution  is  offered 
to  this  question  must  recognize  the  fact  shown  above, 
that  the  money  must  be  known  to  represent  a  definite 
amount  of  actual  value  or  it  will  be  no  good. 

The  great  cure-all  usually  prescribed  for  all  so- 
cial evils,  no  matter  what  their  nature  may  be,  is 
"Pass-a-law!"  In  finance  this  generally  means  a 
legal  tender  law.  The  very  object  of  such  a  law  is  to 
compel  people  to  accept  a  certain  form  of  money  in 
payment  of  all  debts  due  to  them.  We  have  seen  in 


MONEY  AND  INTEREST.  103 

a  previous  chapter,  that  a  direct  act  of  aggression  is 
the  only  thing  which  warrants  any  interference  with 
the  acts  of  any  individual.  I  challenge  anyone  to  show 
how  I  can  commit  an  act  of  aggression  by  refusing 
to  accept  a  certain  form  of  money  for  my  merchan- 
dise or  my  labor.  If  I  know  that  the  money  is  good, 
I  will  need  no  legal-tender  act  to  make  me  accept  it. 
If  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  good,  it  is  the  most  flagrant 
act  of  injustice  to  compel  me  to  take  it.  Edward  At- 
kinson— and  surely  he  is  conservative  enough! — in  a 
recent  pamphlet,  defines  legal  tender  as  "an  act  by 
which  bad  money  may  be  forced  into  use  so  as  to 
drive  good  money  out  of  circulation."  He  quotes 
numerous  legal-tender  acts  in  support  of  his  defini- 
tion. 

These  laws  had  their  origin  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
"Kings  of  all  countries  were  habitually  extrava- 
gant and  always  hard  up.  A  favorite  method  of 
raising  funds  with  them  was  to  abstract  from  coins  a 
part  of  the  metal  of  which  they  were  composed,  and 
replace  the  amount  with  some  base  metal.  This  was 
carried  to  such  an  extent  that  some  of  the  coins  con- 
tained but  a  sixtieth  part  of  their  original  value. 
People  refused  to  accept  debased  coin;  so  the  king 
declared  that  it  was  a  legal  tender,  and  the  people 
were  obliged  to  accept  it.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
mandates  of  legal  tender,  and  it  is  an  absolute  truth 
that  no  such  legislation  was  ever  required  except 
where  money  had  been  debased  or  had  come  to  be 
looked  upon  by  the  people  with  distrust.  Legal-ten- 
der acts  are  necessary  only  when  there  is  a  lack  of 
confidence.  So  long  as  quality  is  unimpaired,  no  arti- 
ficial aid  is  required.  Truth  is  always  able  to  com- 
mend itself  without  using  physical  force.  It  is  also 
true  that  but  for  the  interference  of  kings  in  the 
first  place,  and  afterwards  of  other  governmental 


IO4  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

agencies,  with  the  quality  of  money  no  legal-tender 
act  would  ever  have  been  heard  of."  (A.  W.  Wright, 
Banking  and  the  State,  a  paper  read  before  the  Single 
Tax  Club  of  Chicago  in  the  Spring  of  1894.) 

To  make  any  form  of  money  legal  tender  is  to 
give  it  an  advantage  over  other  money,  and  so  to  deny 
free  competition.  Thus  do  all  legal-tender  acts  stand 
condemned  as  violations  of  Equal  Freedom. 

Any  law  which  prohibits,  or  places  any  restriction 
upon,  the  issuance  of  money  is  manifestly  a  restric- 
tion upon  all  who  would  issue  or  accept  such  money. 
If  A  wishes  to  issue  money  and  B  wishes  to  accept  it 
in  exchange  for  his  labor,  it  is  gross  injustice  to  both 
to  prevent  the  exchange.  Interference,  even  on  the 
grounds  that  such  an  exchange  would  be  detrimental 
to  both,  is  unjustifiable.  So  any  law,  which  either 
creates  a  legal  tender,  or  restricts  the  issuance  of 
money,  is  inconsistent  with  Equal  Freedom  and  must 
be  abandoned. 

The  only  excuse  that  any  person  has  for  interfer- 
ing with  other  people,  who  wish  to  use  any  kind  of 
money  they  see  fit,  is  when  any  one  of  those  people 
violates  the  contract  entered  into  when  that  money 
was  issued.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  is  aggression 
committed  and  interference  becomes  justifiable.  Not 
only  must  the  "Pass-a-law"  idea  be  abandoned,  but 
those  laws  which  now  exist  must  be  repealed,  if  the 
greatest  possible  freedom  is  to  be  maintained. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MUTUAL  BANKS  OF  ISSUE. 


It  is  all  very  well  to  prove  that  all  laws  in  rela- 
tion to  the  issuance  of  many  are  ethically  unjustifi- 
able, but  how  .are  we  going  to  get  along  without 
them?  Let  us  examine  the  various  methods  of  ex- 
change in  vogue  to-day,  and  see  if  we  cannot  gain 
from  them  a  hint  of  the  direction  we  must  take,  in 
order  to  provide  a  safe  currency  without  recourse 
to  law. 

In  mining  camps,  and  other  places  where  the  em- 
ployers of  labor  operate  a  "truck  store,"  an  account  is 
commonly  opened  with  each  employe.  He  is  permit- 
ted to  purchase  goods  at  the  store  and  have  them 
charged  to  him,  provided,  of  course,  the  value  of  his 
purchases  does  not  exceed  the  wages  due  him.  Here 
is  a  simple  system  of  account  fulfilling  the  function 
of  money.  It  often  becomes  a  little  more  complex 
than  this.  Frequently  debts  owed  by  one  employe 
to  another  are  paid  by  transferring  the  amount  from 
one  account  to  the  other  in  the  truck  store.  In  these 


106  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

cases  the  exchanges  are  of  a  very  simple  nature  and 
this  system  of  account  works  splendidly.* 

There  is  only  one  reason  why  such  a  system  as 
this  might  not  be  elaborated  so  as  to  include  all  the 
people  in  the  world.  But  that  objection  is  insur- 
mountable. It  is  the  tremendous  complexity  that 
would  be  involved  in  debiting  one  person,  crediting 
another  and  seeing  that  no  one  overdrew  his  account. 
So  great  is  this  difficulty  that,  in  order  to  avoid  it, 
even  where  exchanges  are  quite  simple,  an  expedient 
is  resorted  to. 

During  the  panic  of  1893  the  Kuner  Pickle  Com- 
pany, of  Denver,  paid  its  employes,  and  the  farmers 
of  whom  it  bought  its  produce,  in  scrip;  that  is, 
pieces  of  paper  which  stated  that  the  Pickle  Com- 
pany would  receive  them  in  payment  of  all  debts  due 
to  it.  As  this  company  was  doing  a  large  business 
with  grocery  stores,  the  holders  of  the  scrip  were 
able  to  purchase  groceries  with  it,  and  the  grocers 
used  it  to  pay  their  debts  to  the  Pickle  Company. 

This  is  really  the  way  in  which  most  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  country  is  conducted.  For  example,  on 
Saturday,  Smith,  a  bookkeeper,  receives  a  check  from 
his  employer  for  his  week's  wages.  He  takes  this 
to  the  bank  and  deposits  it  to  his  credit.  When  his 
grocer  presents  his  bill,  Smith  writes  him  a  check. 
The  grocer  endorses  this  and  pays  it  to  the  commission 
merchant,  who,  in  turn,  deposits  it  in  the  bank.  So 
the  transaction  proceeds.  At  the  end  of  the  week 
the  money  may  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  Smith's 
employer,  by  means  of  a  check  from  a  man  who  owed 
him  money.  Here  is  the  whole  circle  of  exchange 


*  I  trust  no  one  will  misunderstand  me  by  supposing 
that  I  defend  the  "truck-system."  I  am  merely  using  it  as 
an  example,  in  order  to  point  out  some  economic  truths. 


MUTUAL  BANKS   OF  ISSUE.  107 

and  the  actual  coin  has  never  been  taken  from  the 
bank.  Even  if  the  checks  are  deposited  in  different 
banks  the  result  is  practically  the  same.  In  this  case 
the  checks  go  to  the  clearing  house,  and  only  the  bal- 
ances at  the  end  of  each  day  are  paid  in  cash.  These 
balances  are  so  small  in  proportion  to  the  business 
done  as  to  scarcely  affect  the  argument. 

Surely  the  checks  which  have  circulated  like  this 
are  as  much  money  as  greenbacks,  or  any  other  paper 
currency.  They  circulate  because  the  people  who  ac- 
cept them  have  confidence,  first,  tnat  they  can  be  re- 
deemed in  legal  money,  and  second,  that  that  legal 
money  can  be  redeemed  in  goods  which  they  need.  Since 
95  per  cent,  of  the  business  of  the  country  is  trans- 
acted in  some  such  manner  as  this,  and  only  5  per 
cent,  by  means  of  legal  money— only  a  portion  of 
wrhich  is  coin — it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  checks  can 
be  redeemed  in  coin,  for  there  is  less  than  $1  in  coin 
for  every  $20  in  checks.  So  the  only  reasonable 
basis  of  public  confidence  is  the  ability  of  the  drawer 
of  the  check  to  redeem  it  in  labor  or  in  goods  which 
are  the  embodiment  of  labor. 

The  idea  that  all  money  must  be  redeemed  in  gold 
or  silver  is  one  of  the  worst  of  superstitions.  As 
long  as  we  adhere  to  this  idea  panics  are  inevitable. 
As  soon  as  a  demand  is  made  for  the  redemption  of  a 
large  amount  of  checks,  at  any  one  time,  it  is  found 
that  the  supply  of  coin  is  utterly  inadequate.  As 
people  believe  that  checks  can  be  redeemed  in  no  other 
manner,  public  confidence  is  destroyed.  This  re- 
sults in  forcing  a  large  number  of  checks,  etc.,  out 
of  circulation,  and  causes  a  greater  stringency  in 
financial  circles  than  the  largest  exportations  of  gold. 
That  credit  money  must  be  redeemed,  if  it  is  to  be 
of  any  value  whatsoever,  has  been  already  demon- 


108  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

strated,  but  why  it  should  always  be  necessary  to 
redeem  it  in  one  of  two  commodities,  is  something  for 
which  all  the  sophistry  of  modern  political  econo- 
mists is  incapable  of  offering  even  a  reasonable  ex- 
planation. When  a  man  wishes  to  use  money  he 
purchases  something  with  it,  that  is,  he  redeems  it 
in  merchandise.  Coin  is  sometimes  melted,  in  which 
case  it  ceases  to  be  coin.  It  has  been  converted 
into  merchandise  by  a  different  method,  for  gold  and 
silver  are  always  merchandise  though  not  always 
money.  If  people  realized  tnat  credit  money  would 
be  good  if  directly  redeemable  in  merchandise,  that 
is,  if  it  had  the  power  of  purchasing  the  goods  they 
require  without  the  intervention  of  coin,  the  solution 
of  the  financial  question  wrould  be  near  at  hand. 

When  any  person  goes  to  a  banker  to  borrow 
money,  the  banker  examines  the  security  offered. 
If  it  is  adequate  the  loan  is  made.  As  the  borrower 
usually  obtains  his  loans  from  the  banker  with  whom 
he  deposits  his  money,  he  often  has  the  amount  placed 
to  his  credit  at  the  bank  subject  to  check.  Tlien  the 
circle  of  exchange  goes  on  revolving,  often  not  a  cent 
of  the  money  is  ever  taken  from  the  banker's  vaults. 
But  even  if  the  borrower  receives  the  amount  of  the 
loan  in  cash,  the  banker  gives  him  bank  notes,  green- 
backs and  other  forms  of  credit  money  for  the  greater 
part  of  it,  and  only  a  very  small  amount  in  coin. 
In  other  words,  as  Mr.  Hepburn  says,  "the  banker 
merely  swraps  credit."  Furthermore,  the  borrower 
probably  pays  away  this  money  in  a  few  days  and 
it  is  again  deposited  in  the  bank.  So  in  reality  the 
banker  lends  the  "borrower"  absolutely  nothing.  He 
simply  lets  him  use  the  bank's  credit  in  exchange  for 
his  own,  the  soundness  of  which  the  banker  has  pre- 
viously examined.  He  examines  his  customer's  credit, 


MUTUAI,  BANKS  OF  ISSUE,.  109 

and  finding  it  good,  he  proclaims  this  fact  to  the 
world,  a  transaction  very  similar  to  that  of  certify- 
ing a  depositor's  check. 

If  the  borrower's  credit  is  good  enough  for  the 
banker,  why  is  it  not  good  enough  for  the  people? 
It  is.  All  that  is  necessary  is  to  put  into  operation 
machinery  by  which  they  can  be  assured  that  the 
individual's  credit  is  good.  This  is  the  keynote  to  the 
solution  of  the  money  question. 

"Now,  the  whole  problem  of  the  circulation  con- 
sists in  generalizing  the  bill  of  exchange;  that  is  to  say, 
in  making  the  bill  an  anonymous  title  exchangeable 
forever,  and  redeemable  at  sight,  but  only  in  merchan- 
dise and  services. 

"Or,  to  speak  a  language  more  comprehensible  to 
financial  adepts,  the  problem  of  the  circulation  consists 
in  basing  bank-paper,  not  upon  specie,  nor  bullion, 
nor  immovable  property,  which  can  never  produce 
anything  but  a  miserable  oscillation  between  usury 
and  bankruptcy,  between  the  five-franc  piece  and 
the  assignat;  but  by  basing  it  upon  products. 

"I  conceive  this  generalization  of  the  bill  of  ex- 
change as  follows: 

"A  hundred  thousand  manufacturers,  miners,  mer- 
chants, commissioners,  public  carriers,  agricultural- 
ists, etc.,  throughout  France,  unite  with  each  other 
in  obedience  to  the  summons  of  the  government,  and 
by  simple  authentic  declaration,  inserted  in  the  "Moni- 
teur"  newspaper,  bind  themselves  respectively  and 
reciprocally  to  adhere  to  the  statutes  of  the  Bank  of 
Exchange;  which  shall  be  no  other  than  the  Bank 
of  France  itself,  with  its  constitution  and  attributes 
modified  on  the  following  basis: 

"1st.  The  Bank  of  France,  become  the  Bank  of 
Exchange,  is  an  institution  of  public  interest.  It  is 


110  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

placed  under  the  guardianship  of  the  State,  and  it  is 
directed  by  delegates  from  all  branches  of  industry. 

"2d.  Every  subscriber  shall  have  an  account  open 
at  the  Bank  of  Exchange,  for  the  discount  of  his  busi- 
ness paper;  and  he  shall  be  served  to  the  same  extent 
as  he  would  have  been  under  the  conditions  of  dis- 
counting specie;  that  is,  in  the  known  measure  of  his 
faculties,  the  business  he  does,  the  positive  guar- 
anties, the  real  credit  he  might  reasonably  have  en- 
joyed under  the  old  system. 

"3d.  The  discount  of  ordinary  commercial  paper, 
whether  of  drafts,  orders,  bills  of  exchange,  notes  of 
demand,  will  be  made  in  bills  of  the  Bank  of  Ex- 
change, of  denominations  of  twenty-five,  fifty,  one 
hundred,  and  one  thousand  francs. 

"Specie  will  be  used  in  making  change  only. 

"4th.  The  rate  of  discount  will  be  fixed  at 

per  cent.,  commission  included,  no  matter  how  long 
the  paper  has  to  run.  With  the  Bank  of  Exchange, 
all  business  will  be  finished  on  the  spot. 

"5th.  EVERY  SUBSCRIBER  BINDS  HIMSELF 
TO  RECEIVE  IN  ALL  PAYMENTS,  FROM  WHOM- 
EVER IT  MAY  BE,  AND  AT  PAR,  THE  PAPER 
OF  THE  BANK  OF  EXCHANGE. 

"6th.  Provisionally,  and  by  way  of  transition,  gold 
and  silver  coin  will  be  received  in  exchange  for  the 
paper  of  the  bank,  and  at  their  nominal  value. 

"Is  this  a  paper  currency? 

"I  answer,  unhesitatingly,  No;  it  is  neither  paper 
money,  nor  money  of  paper;  it  is  neither  government 
checks,  nor  even  bank  bills;  it  is  not  in  the  nature  of 
anything  that  has  been  hitherto  invented  to  make  up 
for  the  scarcity  of  specie.  It  is  the  bill  of  exchange 
generalized. 


MUTUAL,   BANKS   OF  ISSUE.  Ill 

"The  essence  of  the  bill  of  exchange  is  constituted, 
first,  By  its  being  drawn  from  one  place  on  another; 
second,  By  its  representing  a  real  value  equal  to  the 
sum  it  expresses;  third,  By  the  promise  or  obligation 
on  the  part  of  the  drawee  to  pay  it  when  it  falls  due. 

"In  three  words,  that  which  constitutes  a  bill  of 
exchange  is  exchange,  provision,  acceptance. 

"As  to  the  date  of  issue,  or  falling  due;  as  to  the 
designation  of  the  places,  persons,  object— these  are 
particular  circumstances  which  do  not  relate  to  the 
essence  of  the  title,  but  which  serve  merely  to  give 
it  a  determinate,  personal,  and  local  actuality. 

"Now,  what  is  the  bank  paper  I  propose  to  create? 

"It  is  the  bill  of  exchange  stripped  of  the  cir- 
cumstantial qualities  of  date,  place,  person,  object, 
term  of  maturity,  and  reduced  to  its  essential  quali- 
ties,— exchange,  acceptance,  provision. 

"It  is,  to  explain  myself  still  more  clearly,  the 
bill  of  exchange,  payable  at  sight  and  forever,  drawn 
from  every  place  in  France  upon  every  other  place 
in  France,  made  by  one  hundred  thousand  drawers, 
guaranteed  by  one  hundred  thousand  indorsers,  ac- 
cepted by  one  hundred  thousand  subscribers  drawn 
upon;  having  provision  made  for  its  payment  in  one 
hundred  thousand  workshops,  manufactories,  stores, 
etc.,  of  the  same  one  hundred  thousand  subscribers. 

"I  say,  therefore,  that  such  a  title  unites  every 
condition  of  solidity  and  security,  and  that  it  is  sus- 
ceptible of  no  depreciation. 

"It  is  eminently  solid;  since,  on  one  side,  it  rep- 
resents the  ordinary,  local,  personal,  actual  paper  of 
exchange,  determined  in  its  object,  and  representing 
a  real  value,  a  service  rendered,  merchandise  deliv- 
ered, or  guaranteed  by  the  contract,  in  solido,  of  one 
hundred  thousand  exchangers,  who,  by  their  mass, 


112  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

their  independence,  and  at  the  same  time  by  the  unity 
and  connection  of  their  operations,  offer  millions  of 
millions  of  probability  of  payment  against  one  of 
non-payment.  Gold  is  a  thousand  times  less  sure. 

"In  fact,  if,  in  the  ordinary  conditions  of  com- 
merce, we  may  say  that  a  bill  of  exchange  made  by 
a  known  merchant  offers  two  chances  of  payment 
against  one  of  non-payment,  the  same  bill  of  ex- 
change, if  it  is  indorsed  by  another  known  merchant, 
will  offer  four  chances  of  payment  against  one  of 
non-payment.  If  it  is  indorsed  by  three,  four,  or  a 
greater  number  of  merchants  equally  well  known, 
there  will  be  eight,  sixteen,  thirty -two,  etc.,  to  wager 
against  one  that  three,  four,  five,  etc.,  known  mer- 
chants will  not  fail  at  the  same  time,  since  the  favor- 
able chances  increase  in  geometrical  proportion  with 
the  .number  of  indorsers.  What,  then,  ought  to  be 
the  certainty  of  a  bill  of  exchange  made  by  one  hun- 
dred thousand  well-known  subscribers,  who  are  all 
of  them  interested  to  promote  its  circulation? 

"I  add  that  this  title  is  susceptible  of  no  deprecia- 
tion. The  reason  for  this  is  found,  first,  in  the  per- 
fect solidity  of  the  mass  of  one  hundred  thousand 
signers.  But  there  exists  another  reason,  more  di- 
rect, and,  if  possible,  more  reassuring:  it  is  that  the 
issues  of  the  new  paper  can  never  be  exaggerated 
like  those  of  ordinary  bank  bills,  treasury  notes,  paper 
money,  assignats,  etc.;  for  the  issues  take  place 
against  good  commercial  paper  only,  and  in  the  regu- 
lar, necessarily  limited,  measured,  and  proportion- 
ate process  of  discounting. 

"In  the  combination  I  propose,  the  paper  (at  once 
sign  of  credit  and  instrument  of  circulation)  grows 
out  of  the  best  business  paper,  which  itself  represents 
products  delivered,  and  by  no  means  merchandise 


MUTUAL  BANKS   OF   ISSUE.  113 

unsold.  This  paper,  1  affirm,  can  never  be  refused  iu 
payment,  since  it  is  subscribed  beforehand  by  the 
mass  of  producers. 

"This  paper  offers  so  much  the  more  security 
and  convenience,  inasmuch  as  it  may  be  tried  on  a 
small  scale,  and  with  as  few  persons  as  you  see  fit, 
and  that  without  the  least  violence,  without  the 
least  peril. 

"Suppose  the  Bank  of  Exchange  to  start  at  first 
on  a  basis  of  1,000  subscribers  instead  of  100,000: 
the  amount  of  paper  it  would  issue  would  be  in  pro- 
portion to  the  business  of  these  1,000  subscribers, 
and  negotiable  only  among  themselves.  Afterwards, 
according  as  other  persons  should  adhere  to  the 
bank,  the  proportion  of  bills  would  be  as  5,000,  10,000, 
50,000,  etc.;  and  their  circulation  would  grow  with 
the  number  of  subscribers,  as  a  money  peculiar  to 
them.  Then,  when  the  whole  of  France  should,  have 
adhered  to  the  statutes  of  the  new  bank,  the  issue 
of  paper  would  be  equal,  at  every  instant,  to  the  total- 
ity of  circulating  values. 

"I  do  not  conceive  it  necessary  to  insist  longer. 
Men  acquainted  with  banking  will  understand  me 
without  difficulty  and  will  supply  from  their  own 
minds  the  details  of  execution. 

"As  for  the  vulgar,  who  judge  of  all  things  by 
the  material  aspect,  nothing  for  them  is  so  similar 
to  an  assignat  as  a  bill  of  the  Bank  of  Exchange. 
For  the  economist,  who  searches  the  idea  to  the  bot- 
tom, nothing  is  so  different.  They  are  two  titles, 
which,  under  the  same  manner,  the  same  form,  the 
same  denomination,  are  diametrically  opposed  to 
each  other."  (P.  J.  Proudhon,  Banque  d'Exchange, 
p.  23.) 

This  scheme  is  not  unlike  the  Sub-Treasury 
scheme  of  the  Farmers'  Alliance.  While  I  consider  it 


114  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

to  be  economically  correct,  it  possesses  one  feature 
to  which  I  strongly  object.  That  feature,  while  con- 
sidered by  many  to  be  a  source  of  strength,  is  really 
the  rock  upon  which  it  would  surely  sink,  as  have 
many  simlar  schemes.  It  is  the  proposal  to  place 
the  whole  business  under  the  control  of  the  State.* 

The  Rhode  Island  land  bank,  the  Argentine  Re- 
public land  bank,  John  Law's  French  laud  bank,  the 
Michigan  wild  cat  banks,  all  are  evidences  of  the  cor- 
rupting influence  of  State  interference  with  finance. 
The  founders  of  all  these  banks  proposed— with  vari- 
ous minor  differences  of  detail— that  the  State  should 
issue  legal  tender  notes  to  the  extent  of  50  per  cent, 
of  the  value  of  land,  and  receive  a  mortgage  on  the 
land  in  return.  But  the  valuation  of  the  land  was 
left  to  men  who  held  their  offices  on  the  strength  of 
a  political  pull — not  very  good  evidence  either  of  in- 
tegrity or  common  intelligence,  to  say  nothing  of 
financial  ability — men  who  were  under  political  obli- 
gations to  some,  and  laboring  under  a  load  of  enmity 
to  others.  The  decision  of  these  men  was  final. 
Their  welfare  never  depended  upon  the  soundness  of 
their  business  methods,  nor  did  the  customers  of  the 
bank  realize  that  they  were  individually  responsible 
for  the  affairs  of  the  enterprise.  The  officers  held 
their  positions  for  stated  periods  and  the  people  were 
helpless  till  next  election.  The  result  was  what 
might  have  been  expected.  Large  sums  were  lent  on 


*  I  am  informed  by  those  who  have  studied  Proud  hon's 
untranslated  works,  that  he  was  not  really  in  favor  of 
placing  the  Bank  of  Exchange  under  State  control.  He 
merely  tabulated  the  scheme  given  above  for  educational 
purposes  during  a  political  campaign.  He  afterwards 
started  a  similar  bank  without  State  aid,  but  this  was 
stopped,  almost  before  it  was  organized,  by  the  imprison- 
ment of  its  founder. 


MUTUAL,   BANKS   OF   ISSUE.  115 

land  which  possessed  almost  no  value.  The  money 
at  once  depreciated  in  value.  This  depreciation  was 
met  by  stricter  legal  tender  laws.  Men  were  made 
liable  to  imprisonment  for  refusing  to  accept  these 
notes  at  their  face  value.  Rather  than  submit  to  such 
tyranny,  merchants  closed  their  stores  and  business 
was  entirely  suspended. 

The  scheme  suggested  by  Col.  Win.  B.  Greene  re- 
moves -this  objectionable  feature.  While  he  here 
makes  land  the  sole  basis  of  value,  this  is  only  done 
as  a  beginning.  He  proposed  ultimately  to  extend 
the  same  privilege  to  all  forms  of  good  security— ma- 
chinery, buildings,  grain,  etc.  His  idea  is  tabulated 
in  a  petition  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
asking  for  a  law  embracing  the  following  provisions: 

"1.  The  inhabitants,  or  any  portion  of  the  inhab- 
itants, of  any  town  or  city  in  the  Commonwealth, 
may  organize  themselves  into  a  Mutual  Banking 
Company. 

"2.  Any  person  may  become  a  member  of  the  Mu- 
tual Banking  Company  of  any  particular  town,  by 
pledging  real  estate  situated  in  that  town,  or  in  its 
immediate  neighborhood,  to  the  Mutual  Bank  of 
that  town. 

"3.  The  Mutual  Bank  of  any  town  may  issue 
paper  money  to  circulate  as  currency  among  persons 
willing  to  employ  it  as  such. 

"4.  Every  member  of  a  Mutual  Banking  Com- 
pany shall  bind  himself,  and  be  bound,  in  due  legal 
form,  on  admission,  to  receive  in  payment  of  debts, 
at  par,  and  from  all  persons,  the  bills  issued,  and  to 
be  issued,  by  the  particular  Mutual  Bank  to  which 
he  may  belong;  but  no  member  shall  be  obliged  to 
receive,  or  have  in  possession,  bills  of  said  Mutual 
Bank  to  an  amount  exceeding  the  whole  value  of  the 
property  pledged  by  him. 


Il6  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

"5.  Any  member  may  borrow  the  paper  money 
of  the  bank  to  which  he  belongs,  on  his  own  note 
running  to  maturity  (without  indorsement),  to  an 
amount  not  to  exceed  one-half  of  the  value  of  the 
property  pledged  by  him. 

"6.  The  rate  of  interest  at  which  said  money 
shall  be  loaned  by  the  bank  shall  be  determined  by, 
and  shall,  if  possible,  just  meet  and  cover  the  bare 
expenses  of  the  institution. 

"7.  No  money  shall  be  loaned  by  the  bank  to 
persons  who  do  not  become  members  of  the  com- 
pany by  pledging  real  estate  to  the  bank. 

"8.  Any  member,  by  paying  his  debts  to  the  Mu- 
tual Bank  to  which  he  belongs,  may  have  his  prop- 
erty released  from  pledge,  and  be  himself  released 
from  all  obligations  to  said  Mutual  Bank,  and  to 
holders  of  the  Mutual  Bank  money,  as  such. 

"9.  No  Mutual  Bank  shall  receive  other  than  Mu- 
tual Bank  paper  money  in  payment  of  'debts  due  to 
it  except  at  a  discount  of  one-half  of  one  per  cent. 

"10.  The  Mutual  Banks  of  the  several  counties 
in  the  Commonwealth  shall  be  authorized  to  enter 
into  such  arrangements  with  each  other  as  shall  en- 
able them  to  receive  each  others'  bills  in  payment  of 
debts;  so  that,  for  example,  a  Fitchburg  man  may 
pay  his  debts  to  the  Barre  Bank  in  Oxford  money, 
or  in  such  other  Worcester-County  money  as  may  suit 
his  convenience."  (W.  B.  Greene,  Mutual  Banking, 
pp.  44-45.) 

This  money  would  be  as  nearly  perfect  as  it  is 
possible  to  make  it.  Every  member  of  the  bank,  be- 
ing pledged  to  accept  the  notes  at  par,  would  prac- 
tically be  an  indorser  of  those  notes  and,  as  Proudhon 
has  shown,  this  would  make  the  bank  absolutely  se- 
cure. Every  borrower  would  have  a  personal  inter- 
est in  seeing  that  no  loans  were  made  except  upon  the 


MUTUAL  BANKS   OF  ISSUE.  117 

best  security.  Should  any  customer  find  that  risky 
loans  were  being  made,  he  would  hasten  to  pay  off 
his  mortgage  and  release  himself  from  all  further  re- 
sponsibility. He  would  then  go  to  the  opposition 
bank  across  the  street  and  get  what  money  he  needed 
from  it.  A  bank  whose  currency  showed  signs  of  de- 
preciation would  not  be  able  to  carry  on  business  five 
minutes,  in  which  case,  who  would  be  the  losers? 
The  holders  of  the  bills  would  demand  their  redemp- 
tion by  the  members  of  the  bank,  either  in  goods  or  in 
the  bills  of  more  substantial  banks.  Failing  this, 
they  would  seize  all  the  securities  and  sell  them  to 
the  highest  bidder,  and  so  redeem  the  notes.  The 
only  losers  would  be  those  who  were  endeavoring  to 
cheat  the  public  by  dishonest  methods  of  banking. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Mutual  Bank  money  need 
not  necessarily  be  redeemed  in  the  property  mort- 
gaged to  the  bank.  When  any  customer  of  a  bank 
receives  the  money  for  goods,  he  redeems  the  money 
in  those  goods.  When  he  takes  this  money  to  the 
bank  to  release  his  property  from  the  mortgage,  he 
cancels  both  the  money  and  his  obligation  to  the 
bank.  The  security  he  gives  will  only  be  called  into 
requisition  if  his  other  means  of  redeeming  the  notes 
fail. 

In  order  that  the  notes  of  the  various  banks 
might  gain  a  wider  circulation,  clearing-houses  would 
be  established.  These  clearing-houses  would  stand 
in  the  same  relation  to  the  bank  as  the  banks  would 
to  the  individuals.  Each  bank  belonging  to  a  clear- 
ing-house would  pledge  itself  to  accept  all  notes  bear- 
ing the  clearing-house  indorsement.  So  every  bank 
would  have  the  same  interest  in  stopping  any  lax 
methods  in  the  clearing-house,  as  the  individual  mem- 
ber would  have  in  seeing  that  his  bank  was  doing 


Il8  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

business  in  a  legitimate  manner.  The  clearing-house 
would  in  this  manner  be  a  source  of  extra  security 
to  the  public,  as  well  as  a  means  of  extending  the 
circulation  of  the  notes. 

Every  attempt  to  issue  money  on  poor  security 
would  be  checked  at  once  by  the  selfish  business  in- 
stincts of  the  members  of  the  banks.  By  working 
through  the  idea  of  individual  responsibility,  we 
make  selfishness  of  the  greatest  use. 

If  one  of  tnese  banks  were  to  charge  interest, 
there  being  nothing  to  stop  other  banks  from  open- 
ing, it  would  gain  no  patronage.  When  men  can  use 
their  own  credit  for  the  mere  cost  of  bookkeeping  and 
insurance,  they  are  not  going  to  pay  a  banker  6  per 
cent,  per  annum  to  .let  them  use  his.  Thus  competi- 
tion, relentless  and  universal,  may  abolish  interest 
by  giving  us  a  sound  currency,  in  sufficient  volume 
to  meet  all  requirements. 

When  the  present  financial  system  broke  down  in 
1893,  recourse  was  had  all  over  the  country  to  vari- 
ous modifications  of  this  system.  In  nearly  every 
large  city  clearing-house  certificates  were  issued  to 
meet  the  emergencies  of  the  times.  These  certificates 
were  based  upon  security  far  poorer  than  that  pro- 
posed in  connection  with  the  Mutual  Banks.  Yet 
they  performed,  to  a  large  extent,  the  functions  of 
money  at  one  of  the  most  critical  periods  of  our 
financial  history.  Scrip,  similar  to  that  mentioned  as 
having  been  issued  by  the  Kuner  Pickle  Co.,  was  cir- 
culated in  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  was  absolutely  illegal  for 
anyone  to  issue  it.  In  may  cases  it  was  suppressed 
by  the  government,  but  still  a  large  amount  was  in 
circulation  for  a  time,  and  that  time,  though  short, 
was  when  confidence  was  very  much  shaken  and  the 


MUTUAL  BANKS   OF  ISSUE.  119 

chances  of  failure  were  a  hundred  times  greater 
than  under  normal  conditions.  Surely  a  system 
which  can  stand  such  a  test  is  at  any  rate  worthy  of 
a  fair  trial. 

The  orthodox  argument  against  such  a  system, 
that  an  increase  in  the  volume  of  money  necessarily 
causes  a  depreciation  of  its  purchasing  power,  has 
already  been  answered.  There  are  only  two  reasons 
\vhy  money  depreciates  in  value.  One  is  that  the  se- 
curity on  which  it  is  based  is  less  than  its  face  value. 
The  other,  a  fluctuation  of  the  value  by  which  the 
money  is  measured.  One  is  a  depreciation  of  the 
basis,  the  other  of  the  standard,  of  value. 

This  plan  surely  provides  for  an  ample  basis,  as 
it  demands  that  notes  shall  only  be  issued  to  half  the 
value  of  the  property  pledged.  But  so  far  nothing 
has  been  said  about  the  standard  of  value  by  which 
Mutual  Bank  notes  are  to  be  measured.  What  has 
been  under  consideration-  is  the  basis  of  value.  There 
is  no  reason  why  Mutual  Bank  notes  may  not  be  mea- 
sured by  any  standard  whatsoever.  The  notes  may 
read,  "This  note  will  be  received  by  the  members  of 
the  First  Mutual  Bank  in  payment  of  all  debts  due  to 
them,  to  the  value  of  100  grains  of  gold,"  or  "to  the 
extent  of  eight  bushels  of  wheat,"  or  "to  the  extent  of 
ten  pounds  of  steel,"  or  to  the  extend  of  any  certain 
amount  of  any  given  commodity. 

The  advisability  of  having  a  standard  as  nearly 
stable  as  possible  has  already  been  pointed  out.  Under 
free  competition  there  would  be  more  prospect  of  dis- 
covering Avhat  that  standard  is,  than  under  our  present 
system,  in  which  gold  is  rigidly  adhered  to.  That  gold 
fluctuates  in  value  is  not  denied  by  anyone.  Whether 
it  fluctuates  less  than  any  other  commodity  can  best 


120  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

be  determined  by  a  little  experimenting.  Such  experi- 
ments are  impossible  to-day,  but  would  be  easy  under 
free  conditions. 

There  is  nothing  inconsistent  between  a  gold  stand- 
ard and  Mutual  Banks.  If  gold  can  hold  its  own, 
when  subject  to  competition,  it  will  certainly  continue 
to  be  used  as  a  standard,  but  if  it  is  unable  to 
stand  this  test,  it  wrill  be  immediately  abandoned  for 
something  better.  The  possible  fluctuation  from  this 
cause  could  be  no  greater  than  it  is  to-day,  but  might 
be  far  less. 

Free  competition  having  proved  gold,  let  us  say, 
to  be  the  most  stable  of  all  commodities,  and  so  caused 
it  to  be  adopted  as  the  standard  of  value,  any  person 
will  accept  a  note,  of  the  face  value  of  100  grains  of 
gold,  at  par,  as  long  as  he  knows  that  it  will  be  re- 
deemed in  commodities  to  that  extent,  by  the  issuers 
of  the  note. 

It  has  been  shown  that  notes  which  were  not  based 
upon  good  and  well  recognized  security  would  be 
driven  out  of  circulation  at  once  by  competition.  So 
the  only  notes  which  could  be  issued  would  be  those 
which  were  incapable  of  depreciation  or  fluctuation, 
save  such  as  is  caused  by  the  fluctuation  in  the  value 
of  the  commodity  in  which  they  are  measured.  Even 
this  fluctuation  would  be  probably  less  than  it  is 
to-day.  So  we  may  say,  Mutual  Bank  notes  are  prac- 
tically incapable  of  depreciation,  no  matter  what  their 
volume,  because  they  must  always  be  based  upon 
good  security.  Being  incapable  of  depreciation,  and 
the  possible  supply  being  limited  only  by  the  total 
amount  of  wealth  in  the  community,  these  notes  would 
form  the  most  perfect  currency  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Yet  they  are  practically  prohibited  by  the 
law  which  says,  "Every  person,  firm,  association 


MUTUAL  BANKS  OF  ISSUE.  121 

other  than  National  Bank  Associations,  and  every 
corporation,  State  Bank,  or  State  Banking  Associa- 
tion, shall  pay  a  tax  of  ten  per  centum  on  the  amount 
of  their  own  notes  used  for  circulation  and  paid  out 
by  them."  (United  States,  Act  of  8th  Feb.,  1875, 
Sec.  19.  See  also  Sec.  3412  and  3413,  Revised  Stat- 
utes of  the  United  States,  1878.)  In  addition  to  this 
nearly  every  State  has  a  law  like  the  following: 

"SECTION  866,  GENERAL  STATUTES  OP  COL- 
ORADO. If  any  person,  number  of  persons,  or  cor- 
poration in  this  State,  without  special  leave  from  the 
legislative  assembly,  shall  emit  or  utter  any  bill  of 
credit,  make,  sign,  draw,  or  endorse  any  bond,  prom- 
issory note  or  writing,  bill  of  exchange  or  order,  to  be 
used  as  a  general  circulating  medium  and  in  lieu  of 
money  or  other  currency,  every  such  person  or  per- 
sons, or  members  of  such  corporation  assenting  to 
such  proceedings,  being  thereof  duly  convicted,  shall 
pay  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  or  be 
imprisoned  not  exceeding  one  year.  Provided,  how- 
ever, That  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  not 
apply  to  the  issuance  or  circulation  of  any  certificate 
or  order  for  the  delivery  of  silver  bullion,  signed  or 
accepted  by  any  reliable  depositary  in  this  State 
actually  having  under  his  control  the  silver  bullion 
called  for  in  any  such  certificate  or  order."  (Session 
Laws  of  Colorado,  1893,  pp.  124-125.) 

"But  how  will  the  supply  of  Mutual  Bank  notes 
be  regulated?"  asks  the  captious  critic.  In  the  same 
manner,  my  dear  sir,  as  the  supply  of  any  other  com- 
modity. We  have  seen  in  Chapter  6,  that  the  sup- 
ply of  all  commodities  has  a  tendency  under  free  con- 
ditions to  equal  the  demand.  This  is  as  true  of  money 
as  of  anything  else.  Establish  free  conditions  and 
the  supply  will  regulate  itself. 


122  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

"But,"  the  critic  again  objects,  "you  have  denied 
that  the  value  of  money  varies  as  the  supply  varies. 
It  is  the  variation  of  the  value  in  relation  to  the  sup- 
ply that  causes  this  equilibrium  between  supply  and 
demand."  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  kind.  I  said 
that  the  purchasing  power  of  money  is  not  neces- 
sarily affected  by  the  supply.  But  the  supply  does 
directly  affect  the  rate  of  interest,  and  the  interest  is 
the  source  from  which  the  banker— the  dealer  in 
money — derives  his  income. 

When  an  extra  demand  for  money  is  felt,  it  is 
manifest  in  an  increase  in  the  rate  of  interest.  This 
will  cause  the  banker  to  put  more  money  upon  the 
market,  and  so  the  rate  of  interest  will  be  reduced. 
Similarly,  when  the  demand  is  supplied,  the  rate  of 
interest  will  fall.  As  soon  as  it  falls  below  the  labor 
cost,  some  bankers  will  seek  more  remunerative  oc- 
cupations, the  issue  of  money  will  decrease  and  the 
rate  of  interest  will  rise.  Thus  the  rate  of  interest 
wrill  ever  have  a  tendency— under  free  conditions— to 
remain  at  the  point  which  just  pays  the  banker  for 
his  services,  and  the  supply  of  money  will  adapt  it- 
self to  the  demand. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


FREE  LAND. 


The  questions  of  land  and  rent  have  received  so 
much  attention  lately,  that  much  of  this  chapter  will 
appear  to  be  very  trite  to  anyone  familiar  with  re- 
cent economic  literature.  For  example,  even  college 
professors  admit— and  they  seldom  admit  any  truth 
until  it  is  old  enough  to  become  a  lie,  as  Ibsen  says- 
even  they  admit  that  land  differs  from  wealth  in 
three  essential  particulars: 

1.  All  wealth  is  the  product  of  labor,  while  land 
existed  before  wealth  was  possible,  and  may  continue 
to  exist  long  after  all  forms  of  life  are  extinct. 

2.  Land  is  absolutely  essential  to  our  existence, 
for  without  it  we  could  have  no  place  to  live  nor  any 
opportunity  to  produce  anything  to  sustain  life.     But 
wealth,  being  the  product  of  labor,  cannot  be  essen- 
tial to   our   existence,   since   life  must  have   existed 
previous  to  its  production. 

3.  Land  is  absolutely  stationary,  while  all  forms 
of  wealth  are  movable. 

It  is  necessary  to  restate  these  facts  in  order  to 
make  what  follows  more  intelligible.  Since  wealth 
and  land  are  so  essentially  different,  it  is  to  be  ex- 


124  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

pected  that  property  in  the  one  is  entirely  different 
from  property  in  the  other.  All  wealth  equitably  be- 
longs to  the  person  who  creates  it.  It  is  his  to  use  or 
not  to  use,  to  consume  in  any  manner  he  sees  fit,  to 
exchange  for  other  property,  to  give  away  if  he  so 
desires,  or  to  waste  absolutely  if  the  fancy  strikes 
him.  He  has  created  it  by  his  labor.  He  has  embod- 
ied in  it  a  certain  portion  of  his  time  and  energy,  in 
short,  his  life.  It  is  his  because  it  is  actually  of  him. 
But  with  land  this  is  entirely  different.  No  one  has 
made  any  portion  of  it.  No  one  has  expended  any 
vitality  upon  its  creation.  So  no  one  is  entitled  to 
any  property  right  to  it.  For  if  one  portion  of  the 
earth's  surface  may  justly  become  the  absolute  pos- 
session of  an  individual,  and  may  be  owned  by  him 
for  his  sole  use  and  benefit,  as  a  thing  to  which  he 
has  an  absolute  and  exclusive  right,  then  other  por- 
tions of  the  earth's  surface  may  be  so  owned;  and 
eventually  the  whole  of  the  earth's  surface  may  be  so 
owned;  and  our  planet  may  thus  lapse  altogether 
into  private  hands.  Observe  now  the  dilemma  to 
which  this  leads.  Supposing  the  entire  habitable 
globe  to  be  so  inclosed,  it  follows  that  if  the  land- 
owners have  a  valid  right  to  its  surface,  all  who  are 
not  landowners  have  no  right  at  all  to  its  surface. 
Hence,  such  can  exist  on  the  earth  by  sufferance  only. 
They  are  all  trespassers.  Save  by  permission  of  the 
lords  of  the  soil,  they  can  have  no  room  for  the  soles 
of  their  feet.  Nay,  should  the  others  think  fit  to  deny 
them  a  resting  place,  these  landless  men  might 
equitably  be  expelled  from  the  earth  altogether.  If, 
then,  the  assumption  that  land  can  be  held  as  prop- 
erty, involves  that  the  whole  globe  may  become  the 
private  domain  of  a  part  of  its  inhabitants;  and  if,  by 
consequence,  the  rest  of  its  inhabitants  can  then 
exercise  their  faculties— can  then  exist  even— only  by 


FREE   LAND.  125 

consent  of  the  landowners;  it  is  manifest  that  an  ab- 
solute ownership  of  the  soil  necessitates  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  law  of  equal  freedom.  For  men  who 
cannot  "live  and  move  and  have  their  being"  with- 
out the  leave  of  others,  cannot  be  equally  free  with 
those  others.* 

A  good  example  of  the  tyranny  that  may  be  exer- 
cised by  landed  proprietors  is  found  in  Greeley,  Colo. 
By  a  clause  in  the  titles  to  all  the  land  on  which  this 
town  is  situated,  it  reverts  to  the  heirs  of  the  orig- 
inal owners  if  any  intoxicating  liquor  is  sold  upon  it. 
By  the  fact  of  his  proprietary  right  to  the  soil,  the 
landowner  is  able  to  force  his  will — whether  it  be 
good  or  bad  is  immaterial— upon  all  who  shall  live 
upon  it  for  all  time.  Once  grant  a  man  a  title  to  the 
absolute  ownership  of  land,  and  you  deprive  every- 
one else  the  right  to  object  to  any  condition  he  may 
make  before  permitting  others  to  use  it. 

While  there  is  considerable  land  in  the  world 
which  is  not  yet  owned  by  anyone,  all  the  best  land  is 
certainly  monopolized,  as  is  also  nearly  all  that  is 
capable  of  affording  a  comfortable  living.  This  be- 
ing the  case,  the  holders  of  land  are  able  to  collect 
rent  from  all  the  non-landowning  classes.  This  rent 
is  only  limited  by  the  difference  between  the  value  of 
the  product  of  the  land  each  individual  occupies,  and 
the  value  of  that  which  could  be  produced  with  the 
same  amount  of  labor  on  the  best  land  not  yet  held 
by  anyone.  For  example,  A  can,  with  a  certain 
amount  of  labor,  produce  100  bushels  of  wheat  per 


*  To  avoid  a  possible  charge  of  plagiarism,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  state  that  much  of  this  paragraph  has  been  copied, 
with  a  few  alterations,  from  Chapter  IX.  of  Social  Statics 
(First  Ed.),  which  Mr.  Spencer  has  lately  repudiated.  It 
is  not  printed  in  quotation  marks,  because  of  the  altera- 
tions which  I  have  made. 


126  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

acre  upon  a  certain  piece  of  land.  But  that  piece  of 
land  is  owned  by  B.  All  land  capable  of  yielding 
over  10  bushels  per  acre  is  held  by  someone  else.  The 
only  alternative  that  A  has  is,  to  either  take  up 
land  capable  of  yielding  but  10  bushels  per  acre,  or 
else  pay  B,  or  some  other  landlord,  whatever  he  de- 
mands for  the  use  of  his  land.  If  B  asks  more  tiian 
90  bushels  per  acre,  A  will  pursue  the  former  course, 
if  less,  the  latter.  As  B  will  wish  to  get  all  he  can, 
he  will  not  rent  his  land  for  much  less  than  90  bush- 
els, so  that  will  be  approximately  the  rent  of  the 
land. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  agricultural  prod- 
uct of  land  is  the  only  factor  to  be  considered  in 
in  estimating  the  productivity  of  the  soil.  In  reality 
it  is  but  a  very  small  factor.  The  possibility  of  a 
mineral  or  other  output  has  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. But  probably  the  greatest  factor  of  all 
is  location.  It  is  easy  to  see,  that  if  A's  land  is 
capable  of  producing  100  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre, 
and  B's  land  is  only  capable  of  producing  90  bush- 
els, A's  land  is  ten  per  cent,  more  valuable  than  B's. 
But  if  it  cost  B  the  value  of  10  bushels  to  haul 
his  90  bushels  of  wheat  to  market,  and  it  cost  A  28 
bushels  to  haul  his  100  bushels,  the  net  produc- 
tivity of  A's  land  is  only  72  bushels,  while  that  of 
B's  is  80.  In  other  words,  while  A's  land  is  ten  per 
cent,  more  fertile  than  B's,  yet  B's  land,  owing  to 
location,  is  ten  per  cent,  more  valuable  than  A's. 

So  likewise  in  other  forms  of  industry.  A  few 
acres  of  land,  so  situated  as  to  be  suitable  for  a 
manufactory,  may  be  100  times  as  valuable  as  other 
land  which  is  only  suitable  for  agriculture,  though 
this  latter  tract  may  be  extremely  fertile,  while  the 
former  is  little  more  than  a  barren  rock.  Other  land, 


FREE   LAND.  127 

again,  may  be  so  situated  as  to  be  suitable  for  a 
large  business  block,  filled  with  offices,  and  so  afford 
space  for  the  application  of  the  labor  of  several 
hundred  men.  It  will  necessarily  be  more  valuable 
than  the  same  area  of  agricultural  land,  which  would 
scarce  suffice  for  the  support  of  one. 

Owing  partly  to  the  spirit  of  adventure,  partly 
to  a  desire  for  possession,  and  partly  to  the  damands 
of  landlords  for  higher  rent,  poorer  and  poorer  land 
is  being  pressed  into  service.  It  is  difficult  to  appre- 
ciate the  full  extent  to  which  this  is  carried,  until 
we  consider  the  vast  areas  of  the  most  productive 
land  which  is  held  out  of  use.  Owing  to  its  loca- 
tion, the  land  in  large  cities  is  infinitely  more  pro- 
ductive than  any  farming  land,  yet  see  how  much  of 
it  is  held  out  of  use,  even  in  densely  settled  cities. 
Thus,  while  the  landlord  cannot  actually  dictate 
his  own  terms  to  those  who  own  no  land,  he  can, 
owing  to  the  comparatively  small  margin  of  un- 
monopolized  land,  demand  the  greater  part  of  the 
product  of  the  toil  of  those  who  use  it,  and  impose 
many  onerous  conditions  upon  them.  So  the  present 
system  of  land  tenure  is  inconsistent  with  the  cost 
principle.  The  means  by  which  the  present  owners 
obtained  possession  is  immaterial.  The  system  is 
inequitable  and  inimical  to  progress,  and  must  be 
abolished.  What  care  we  for  the  howl  about  the 
rights  of  property,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the 
proprietary  right  has  been  granted  by  the  producer 
of  the  property?  When  the  holders  of  land  can  pro- 
duce such  a  title  I  will  respect  it,  but  not  till  then. 
It  may  not  be  out  of  place,  however,  to  review 
briefly  the  history  of  property  in  land. 

Very  many  different  systems  of  land  tenure  seem 
to  have  been  in  vogue  among  primitive  peoples. 


128  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

Where  bunting  was  the  means  of  support  of  the  tribe, 
the  land  was  held  in  common.  In  pastoral  tribes 
the  same  system  was  probably  in  vogue.  With  the 
development  of  agriculture,  a  tenancy  in  usufruct 
seems  to  have  been  most  widely  adopted.  And  so 
on.  Nowhere  among  uncivilized  tribes  do  we  find 
any  trace  of  the  payment  of  rent.  That  is  one  of 
the  proofs  that  they  were  uncivilized! 

Most  primitive  tribes  were  extremely  warlike, 
and  those  who  were  not  were  soon  exterminated  by 
their  more  bellicose  neighbors.  In  these  times  it  was 
usual  for  the  victors  to  kill  all  their  prisoners  and 
eat  them.  As  a  more  advanced  stage  was  reached 
and  agriculture  became  of  some  importance,  it  was 
discovered  that  a  live  man  was  worth  more  than  a 
dead  one.  The  body  of  an  enemy  was  capable  of  af- 
fording his  conqueror  one  or  two  good  orgies,  but 
his  labor  would  help  to  provide  food  as  long  as  he 
lived.  The  savage  found  it. to  his  advantage  to  spare 
the  life  of  his  enemy  in  order  to  make  him  a  slave. 

With  the  primitive  means  of  production  at  the 
disposal  of  man  in  those  days,  a  point  was  soon 
reached,  at  which  the  further  application  of  labor  to 
land  did  not  produce  sufficient  to  support  the  labor- 
ers; in  other  words,  the  land  soon  became  overpopu- 
lated.  Then  our  early  ancestors  found  it  inadvisable 
to  own  more  slaves.  Now  it  became  more  advantage- 
ous to  the  conquerors,  to  let  the  conquered  retain 
possession  of  their  land,  on  condition  that  they  paid 
tribute.  But  this  necessitated  excursions  at  regular 
intervals  to  collect  this  tribute  by  force  of  arms, 
and  so  a  system  of  dividing  the  soil  of  a  conquered 
country  among  the  conquerors  became  more  eco- 
nomical. This  gradually  developed  into  the  Feudal 
System,  and  it  was  not  till  that  system  decayed  that 


FREE   LAND.  129 

rent  and  taxes  became  diferentiated.  Up  to  that 
point  both  were  the  same.  The  owners  of  the  soil 
were  merely  collectors  of  taxes,  who  set  an  ex- 
ample to  modern  politicians,  to  hand  over  to  the 
public  treasury  as  little  as  possible. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  rent  is  a  form 
of  slavery.  It  is  even  a  form  of  cannibalism.  An 
improvement  on  cannibalism,  to  be  sure,  but  an  im- 
provement primarily  from  the  standpoint  of  the  canni- 
bal. (And  the  same  may  be  said  of  taxes.)  Whether 
the  present  system  of  land  tenure  is  regarded  from 
the  standpoint  of  ethics,  economics  or  history,  it 
stands  unqualifiedly  condemned. 

While  all  idea  of  property  (that  is,  absolute  owner- 
ship) in  land  is  unjustifiable,  some  system  of  land 
tenure  must  be  adopted.  To  say  that  no  man  shall 
use  land,  is  to  say  that  no  man  shall  live.  So  we  are 
forced  to  accept  the  opposite  proposition,  namely,  all 
men  may  use  land.  But  no  man  should  possess  an 
absolute  property  right  in  land.  Consequently,  men 
should  be  protected  in  the  possession  of  land 
only  so  long  as  they  are  occupying  and  using  it.  In 
other  words,  bona  fide  occupancy  and  use  should  be 
the  sole  title  to  land.  That  such  a  system  is  in 
accord  with  the  teachings  of  history  is  shown  by 
Letourneau,  who  says:  "The  ancient  system  of  hold- 
ing property  has  died  because  of  its  tyrannical  char- 
acter, and  the  general  civilization  has  progressed  be- 
cause of  the  degree  of  liberty  granted  to  each  indi- 
vidual. But  individual  liberty  cannot  degenerate 
into  an  inherited  privilege.  A  reaction  is  therefore 
probable.  In  fully  maintaining  individual  liberty  this 
reaction  will  probably  bring  us  back,  slowly  and  by 
means  of  a  series  of  graduated  measures,  to  a  life 


130  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

interest  usufruct  of  land,  thus  rewarding  intelli- 
gence and  useful  work,  and  also  the  labor  given." 
(Sociology,  p.  439.) 

Some  gentlemen  with  tender  consciences  defend 
the  present  land  system,  because,  they  allege,  any 
change  would  necessitate  injustice.  It  is  argued  that 
all  improvements  on  land  belong  to  the  present 
owners,  and  it  would  be  wrong  to  rob  them  of  this 
property;  that  it  is  impossible  to  dispossess  them 
of  the  land  and  leave  the  improvements,  therefore, 
we  must  leave  them  both.  But  what  care  we  about 
these  fine  shades  of  justice?  The  admission  that 
exclusive  ownership  to  land  is  unjust,  places  the 
landlords  among  the  robber  class.  Why  need  we  be 
so  punctilious  about  their  feelings?  If  progress  de- 
mands the  abolition  of  the  present  land  system,  is 
not  that  sufficient?  Must  the  development  of  the 
whole  human  race  be  retarded  for  fear  of  doing 
a  little  injustice  to  a  class  of  robbers?  But  we  are 
governed,  as  the  Editor  of  "Egoism"  says,  by  "a  ma- 
jority that  rules  without  voting— The  silent  major- 
ity of  the  graveyard.  The  dead  past  rules  us  with 
an  iron  hand.  Its  creeds,  laws,  monopolies,  customs, 
tastes,  conceptions  and  prejudices  are  the  tyrants  of 
our  time.  .  .  .  We  are  the  slaves  of  the  ghosts  of 
dry  bones  and  dust."  (Egoism,  Vol.  1,  No.  4.)  So 
perhaps  it  is  worth  while  to  consider  this  objection 
more  fully. 

Spencer  states  the  case  as  follows:  "We  must 
admit  that  all  which  can  be  claimed  for  the  com- 
munity is  the  surface  of  the  country  in  its  original 
unsubdued  state.  To  all  that  value  given  to  it  by 
clearing,  breaking  up,  prolonged  culture,  fencing, 
draining,  making  roads,  farm  buildings,  etc.,  consti- 
tuting nearly  all  its  value,  the  community  has  no 


FREE   IvAND.  13! 

claim.  This  value  has  been  given  either  by  personal 
labor,  or  by  labor  paid  for,  or  by  ancestral  labor;  or 
else  the  value  given  to  it  in  such  ways  has  been  pur- 
chased by  legitimately  earned  money.  All  this  value 
artificially  given  vests  in  existing  owners,  and  cannot 
without  a  gigantic  robbery  be  taken  from  them." 
(Justice,  pp.  91-92.)  In  an  appendix  to  the  same  work 
(p.  269),  he  goes  on  to  show,  that  since  A.  D.  1601, 
the  landlords  of  England  and  Wales  have  paid  out 
in  poor  rates,  etc.,  about  £500,000,000  or  $2,400,000,- 
000.  From  this,  he  argues,  "it  is  manifest  that 
against  the  claim  of  the  landless  may  be  set  off 
a  large  claim  of  the  landed — perhaps  a  larger  claim." 

These  landlords  have  had  control  of  the  land  all 
these  centuries.  During  that  time  they  have  im- 
poverished the  soil.  They  have  lived  off  the  product 
of  other  men's  labor.  They  have  done  but  little  to 
benefit  the  human  race.  And  they  have,  in  most  cases, 
ground  their  tenants  and  laborers  into  poverty.  Are 
not  these  factors  to  be  considered  also?  Every  cent 
that  has  been  invested  in  improvements,  every  cent 
that  has  been  paid  in  rates  and  taxes,  and  nearly 
every  cent  that  the  landlords  have  spent  upon  them- 
selves has  been  taken  by  means  of  rent  from  the 
producers  of  wealth,  except  that  which  has  been 
derived  from  the  same  source  by  means  of  interest. 
Do  you  wish  to  go  back  to  the  past,  gentlemen? 
If  so  we  will  submit  a  bill  for  back  rent,  and,  since 
you  believe  in  interest,  we  will  compute  compound 
interest  on  the  money.  You  will  find  that  it  would 
be  cheaper  to  submit  to  our  demands  in  the  first 
place  and  "let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead." 

While  these  arguments  deal  principally  with 
landholding  in  England,  they  apply  with  equal  force 
to  America.  Here  the  improvements  have  been 


132  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

largely  bought  with  interest  instead  of  with  rent — 
that  is  all  the  difference.  A  few  cases  of  men  saving 
their  wages  and  investing  in  and  improving  real 
estate  are  to  be  found.  In  most  of  such  cases, 
however,  the  investors  have  simply  built  homes  for 
themselves.  As  they  occupy  and  use  this  land,  they 
would  remain  in  unmolested  possession  of  it  under 
the  system  here  advocated.  For  the  few  others,  who 
have  invested  their  hard  earned  saving  with  a  view 
to  getting  back  a  portion  of  the  plunder,  I  am  heart- 
ily sorry.  But  they  have  placed  themselves  among 
the  robber  class  and  they  must  expect  to  share 
their  fate.  But  even  so,  they  would  not  be  badly 
off.  The  increase  in  wages,  which  would  result  from 
throwing  open  the  land,  would  go  far  to  repay  them 
for  the  loss  of  rent. 

No  doubt  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  very  hard 
on  a  number  of  slave  owners,  but  that  was  as  noth- 
ing when  compared  with  the  misery  the  slaves  had 
endured.  So  with  the  modern  form  of  slavery, 
it  must  be  abolished,  even  if  it  prove  inconsistent 
to  those  who  are  accustomed  to  live  off  the  toil  of 
others.  Every  change  involves  hardship  on  some 
class.  We  are  fortunate  indeed  if  that  hardship  falls 
solely  upon  those  who  have  reaped  the  benefit  of 
the  previous  injustice. 

The  most  serious  objection  to  the  occupancy  and 
use  system  is  that  it  does  not  produce  equality  of 
opportunity.  Land  being  of  different  value,  those 
who  occupy  the  most  valuable  will  be  able  to  obtain 
a  greater  reward  for  their  labor  than  will  those  who 
occupy  poorer  land.  This  criticism  is  very  just 
indeed.  If  any  other  system  can  be  devised,  which 
will  remove  this  difficulty  without  rushing  into 
greater  evils,  I  for  one  will  most  heartily  advocate  it. 


FREE   LAND.  133 

The  only  way  by  which  it  is  proposed  to  remedy 
this  defect  is  by  some  form  of  State  ownership, 
either  by  actual  State  control  of  the  land,  or  by  the 
method  known  as  the  Single  Tax.  The  former 
method  involves  the  direct  use  of  the  land  by  the 
State,  and,  consequently,  a  complete  system  of  State 
Socialism  and  compulsory  co-operation.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  combat  this  idea  here.  This  whole  book 
is,  by  implication,  directly  opposed  to  such  a  sys- 
tem. If  its  arguments  have  made  no  such  impres- 
sion on  the  reader's  mind,  it  has  been  written  in 
vain  and  nothing  I  could  say  in  a  short  space  here 
would  help  matters. 

The  Single  Tax  is  the  theory  that  the  State  should 
collect  the  full  rental  value  of  all  land,  and  should 
spend  it,  or  rather  such  portion  of  it  as  may  be  left 
after  paying  current  expenses,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people.  The  method  of  assessment  suggested  is  that 
that  the  land  shall  be  rented  to  the  highest  bidder,  and 
if,  after  he  has  occupied  it  awhile,  another  is  willing 
to  pay  more  than  the  original  tenant,  he  shall  be 
entitled  to  rent  the  land  at  the  advanced  rate.  This 
is  the  fairest  way  of  determining  the  value  of  the 
land,  as  it  throws  the  whole  matter  open  to  compe- 
tition. I  will  go  even  further;  it  is  the  only  possible 
way  of  determining  the  value  of  the  land  under  such 
conditions.  If  the  State  collects  the  full  rental  value, 
no  one  will  have  any  object  in  buying  or  selling  land. 
In  the  absence  of  sales  there  would  be  nothing  to 
guide  a  board  of  assessors  in  determining  the  value 
of  the  land.  Any  assessments  they  might  make, 
with  absolutely  nothing  to  guide  them  in  their  en- 
deavors, would  be  more  absurdly  grotesque  than 
anything  the  State  has  ever  yet  attempted. 


134  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

This  theory  plunges  us  into  evils  far  greater  than 
those  involved  in  the  occupancy  and  use  system.  It 
leaves  the  collection  and  disbursement  of  all  this  vast 
sum  of  money  to  our  corrupt  State  officials.  The  Sin- 
gle Taxer  will  deny  this.  He  argues  that  under  cor- 
rect economic  conditions,  all  men  will  be  honest.  But 
he  proposes  to  make  the  change  now,  and  it  is  absurd 
to  suppose  that  men  will  become  honest  in  anticipa- 
tion of  equitable  economic  conditions.  The  most  he 
can  claim  is,  that  after  equitable  economic  conditions 
are  established,  men  will  become  honest.  Meanwhile 
the  politicians  will  have  collected  at  least  the  first 
installment  of  rent.  Their  friends  will  fill  all  the 
offices  created  to  spend  the  surplus  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people— in  operating  railways,  telegraphs,  water- 
works, electric  plants,  street  car  lines,  etc.  They  will 
have  intrenched  themselves  behind  this  army  of  office- 
holders, so  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  dislodge 
them.  They  will  then  find  it  no  hard  task  to  devise 
means,  whereby  they  may  live  at  the  public  expense 
without  performing  any  adequate  service  in  return. 
Men  will  not  become  too  honest  to  live  off  the  toil  of 
others,  until  it  becomes  more  difficult  to  do  so  than 
to  work  for  a  living  for  themselves.  These  remarks 
are  applicable  to  any  method  of  spending  the  sur- 
plus that  may  be  devised.  But  I  doubt  if  any  serious 
difficulty  would  arise  on  this  account.  After  the 
funds  had  once  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  politi- 
cians, there  would  be  mighty  little  surplus  left  for 
any  purpose  whatsoever. 

But  supposing  the  politicians  are  honest,  we  are 
still  no  nearer  the  solution  of  our  difficulties.  The 
Single  Tax  is  based  upon  the  idea  that  no  man  has 
any  right  to  hold  property  in  land.  From  this  pre- 
mise, the  conclusion  is  deduced  that  all  men  (i.  c., 


FREE   LAND.  135 

Society)  have  a  property  right  to  land.  The  new 
form  of  sylogisni  which  warrants  such  reasoning  will, 
no  doubt,  be  propounded 'in  a  forthcoming  criticism 
of  Mill  by  Henry  George,  entitled  "A  Perplexed  Logi- 
cian." So  we  will  submit  for  the  present  to  his  con- 
clusion that  all  men  have  a  right  to  property  in  land. 
From  this  it  follows  that  each  man  has  a  right  to  an 
equal  share  of  the  rent  of  all  the  land  of  the  world, 
and  to  spend  one  penny  of  any  one  man's  share  with- 
out his  free  consent,  even  though  he  be  in  a  minority 
of  one,  is  a  violation  of  the  first  condition  of  liberty. 
Insurmountable  as  these  difficulties  appear,  they 
are  insignificant  when  compared  with  the  next.  A 
has  rented  a  piece  of  land,  let  us  say,  for  $200  per 
year.  He  has  made  improvements  on  it  to  the  value 
of  $1,000.  Now  B  comes  along  and  offers  $250  per 
year  for  the  same  land.  The  Single  Taxer  would  say 
that  if  A  was  not  willing  to  pay  $250  per  year,  he 
must  vacate  the  land,  but  that  B  must  pay  him  tor 
the  improvements.  B  says,  "They  are  not  the  kind 
of  improvements  I  want  I  need  the  land,  not  the 
improvements."  All  these  difficulties  the  Single 
Taxer  would  submit  to  a  board  of  assessors.  Now 
mark  the  result.  If  this  board  places  the  price  high 
enough  to  be  fair  to  A,  they  compel  B  either  to  pur- 
chase that  which  he  does  not  want,  or  to  relinquish 
his  claim  to  the  laud.  If  they  fix  tne  price  so  as  to 
be  fair  to  B,  A  is  cheated  out  of  part  of  the  value  of 
his  property.  In  any  event  A  will  be  compelled  to  sell 
his  property,  whether  he  wishes  to  do  so  or  not,  and 
B  will  be  compelled  to  buy  the  same,  regardless  of 
whether  it  will  be  of  any  use  to  him.  If  he  does  not 
wish  to  do  this,  ne  will  have  to  relinquish  his  equal 
right  to  the  land  A  is  occupying,  and  the  community 
will  lose  $50  rent  per  annum.  No  one  can  expatiate 


136  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

more  eloquently  than  Single  Taxers  upon  the  diffi- 
culty of  assessing  the  value  of  personal  property, 
when  the  assessment  is  made  in  order  to  levy  a  tax. 
And  no  one  places  more  implicit  confidence  in  the  in- 
fallibility of  such  an  assessment,  when  the  owner 
of  the  property  is  to  be  compelled  to  sell  his  belong- 
ings at  the  assessed  valuation.  The  very  possibility 
of  such  uncertainty  in  regard  to  the  permanency 
of  the  tenure  is  sufficient  to  deter  any  man  from 
improving  his  land  to  any  great  extent.  "Give  a 
man  the  secure  possession  of  a  bleak  rock,"  said 
Arthur  Young,  "and  he  will  turn  it  into  a  garden." 
The  converse  is  equally  true.  Deprive  a  man  of  that 
security  of  possession,  and  he  will  let  a  garden  be- 
come as  barren  as  a  rock.  These  arguments  are 
valid,  no  matter  what  system  of  assessing  the  value 
of  the  land  and  improvements  may  be  adopted. 
Schemes  may  be  devised  to  avoid  them,  but  the  same 
difficulties  will  recur  in  one  form  or  another,  for  they 
take  their  root  in  the  essential  nature  of  the  Single 
Tax. 

This  theory,  then,  is  radically  inconsistent  with 
Equal  Freedom.  It  enables  the  politicians  to  live  off 
the  toil  of  others.  It  is  absurdly  illogical.  It  denies 
a  man  an  absolute  title  to  the  product  of  his  toil  in 
the  form  of  improvements  on  land.  And,  providing 
no  security  of  tenure,  it  offers  no  incentive  to  econ- 
omy or  thrift  in  the  use  of  the  land.  Surely  this  is 
too  high  a  price  to  pay  for  absolute  equality  of  op- 
portunity. 

The  inequality  of  opportunity,  so  much  feared  by 
the  opponents  of  the  occupancy  and  use  system, 
would  not  be  nearly  as  great  as  would  appear  at  first 
sight.  Under  free  conditions  economic  rent,  that  is, 
the  rent  which  would  attach  to  land  in  the  absence 
of  monopoly,  is  all  that  would  remain.  And  this 


FREE  IvAND.  137 

economic  rent  would  not  be  a  tax  upon  the  wealth 
produced  by  another.  It  would  merely  be  the  ad- 
vantage which  one  man  would  have  over  another, 
owing  to  the  greater  productive  power  of  the  land  he 
occupied.  Just  as  one  man  is  able  to  perform  cer- 
tain kinds  of  labor  with  greater  ease  than  other  men, 
some  men  would  be  so  situated  on  land,  that  they 
could  produce  more  with  less  exertion  than  could 
their  less  fortunate  brethren.  In  one  case  the  advan- 
tage is  due  to  the  economic  rent  on  land,  in  the  other, 
to  the  economic  rent  on  intellect,  if  I  may  use  the 
expression. 

The  economic  rent  on  land  is  but  a  small  portion 
of  that  paid  to-day.  If  occupancy  and  use  were  the 
sole  titles  to  land,  the  large  tracts  of  valuable  land 
now  held  out  of  use  would  immediately  be  occupied 
and  the  poorer  land  would  be  abandoned.  We  have 
seen  that  the  rent  on  any  piece  or  land  depends  upon 
the  difference  between  the  productivity  of  that  land 
and  the  productivity  of  the  best  land  not  yet  taken 
up.  Consequently  as  better  and  better  land  is  aban- 
doned, rent  is  reduced.  To  quote  the  example  given 
above;  if  the  best  available  land  is  only  capable  of 
producing  10  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  and  the  land 
B  has  for  rent  is  capable  of  yielding  100  bushels 
per  acre,  the  rent  on  B's  land  will  be  approximately 
90  bushels.  But  if,  owing  to  the  relinquishment  of 
all  unoccupied  land,  no  land  is  held  which  is  in- 
capable of  yielding  more  than  60  bushels,  B's  land 
will  only  be  worth  40  bushels.  When  the  quality,  as 
well  as  the  quantity,  of  land  now  held  out  of  use  is 
considered,  we  begin  to  realize  how  small  a  fraction 
of  rent,  economic  rent  really  forms. 

Under  free  conditions,  even  this  economic  rent 
would  have  a  perpetual  tendency  to  grow  "smaller 
by  degrees  and  beautifully  less."  Owing  to  the  in- 


138  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

equalities  of  the  present  social  S37stein,  there  is  a 
tendency  for  population  to  concentrate  in  large  cit- 
ies. This  naturally  increases  the  rent  of  the  city 
property  and  decreases  that  of  agricultural  soil,  etc. 
With  the  establishment  of  the  cost  principle,  the 
farmer,  the  miner  and  all  engaged  in  rural  occupa- 
tions will  be  able  to  earn  as  much  as  those  who  work 
in  cities.  So  a  more  even  distribution  of  population 
is  to  be  expected.  Similar  force  will  be  at  work  in 
other  directions.  Free  competition  will  insure  each 
piece  of  land  being  put  to  its  most  productive  use. 
Freedom  of  exchange  will  cause  greater  facilities 
for  working  the  poorer  land.  The  means  of  trans- 
portation not  being  monopolized  but  extended  beyond 
their  present  territory,  the  distant  land  will  be  more 
accessible.  These  are  some  of  the  forces  which  will 
be  at  work  to  equalize  the  value  of  different  tracts  of 
land,  and  so  reduce  economic  rent  to  a  minimum.  In 
fact,  so  small  would  it  ultimately  become,  that  it 
need  hardly  be  considered  in  our  calculations  at  all. 
The  only  other  objection  to  the  occupancy  and 
use  system  that  is  worthy  of  consideration,  is  the 
difficulty  of  determining  whether  a  piece  of  land  is 
in  use  or  not.  Is  a  man  using  a  corner  lot  in  a  city 
when  he  has  lumber  piled  upon  it?  Is  he  using  it 
when  he  has  some  old  tomato  cans  piled  in  a  corner? 
Questions  like  these  are  asked  on  all  sides.  The  only 
answer  to  them  is  that  they  cannot  well  be  settled 
beforehand,  as  we  have  not  sufficient  data  on  which 
to  base  a  conclusion.  All  such  difficulties  and  dis- 
putes will  have  to  be  settled  as  all  other  disputes 
are,  amicably  if  possible,  if  not  by  an  appeal  to  the 
courts.  Under  our  present  absurd  judiciary  system, 
some  rigid  rule  might  be  necessary.  For  instance,  the 
court  might  rule  that  a  residence  can  occupy  a  tract 


FREE   IvAND.  139 

of  land  100x150  feet,  a  store  the  same  area,  a  factory 
300x150  feet,  and  so  on.  As  we  get  enlightened  and 
an  equitable  jury  system  is  established,  the  matter 
will  present  even  fewer  difficulties.  Twelve  men, 
familiar  with  the  land  under  dispute  and  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  the  facts  of  the  case,  would  seldom  find 
it  difficult  to  settle  such  difficulties. 

This  difficulty  is  greatly  overestimated.  To-day 
nearly  all  occupied  land  is  fenced  in,  and  the  boun- 
daries are  well  marked  and  recorded.  It  is  no  very 
difficult  task  to  tell  how  much  land  a  man's  house  is 
occupying.  Why  such  difficulties  should  suddenly 
increase  under  an  occupancy  and  use  system,  is  not 
apparent.  This  objection,  like  its  predecessors,  is 
seen  to  be  almost  infinitesimal  when  it  is  carefully 
examined. 

Until  some  other  system  can  be  devised,  which  is 
free  from  all  these  objections,  occupancy  and  use 
must  be  considered  the  only  equitable  and  legitimate 
title  to  land. 


CHAPTER  X. 


SPECIAL  PRIVILEGES. 


While  surplus  value  depends  for  its  existence 
principally  upon  the  monopolies  of  land  and  money, 
it  is  also  increased  by  special  privileges.  The  abo- 
lition of  these  minor  forms  of  monopoly,  to  be  sure, 
would  be  of  but  little  avail  while  the  all-embracing 
monopolies  of  land  and  money  still  exist,  yet  they 
must  ultimately  be  removed  before  the  cost  principle 
can  be  established. 

The  most  important  forms  of  special  privilege  in 
vogue  to-day  are  the  protection  from  competition 
afforded  to  manufacturers  by  the  protective  tariff, 
the  special  charters  granted  to  railroads  and  similar 
corporations,  licenses,  copyrights  and  patents. 

The  various  questions  involved  in  the  operation 
of  railroads,  etc.,  are  treated  in  a  subsequent  chapter 
and  so  they  need  no  elaboration  here.  And  so  much 
has  been  written  in  regard  to  the  tariff,  magnifying 
its  importance  out  of  all  proportion  to  other  ques- 
tions, that  it  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  give  it 
more  than  passing  mention.  The  advocates  of  "tariff 
for  revenue  only"  must  find  their  answer  in  the  chap- 
ter dealing  with  Equal  Freedom,  in  which  I  endeavor 


SPECIAL  PRIVIIvEGES.  141 

to  prove  that  all  forms  of  compulsory  taxation  are 
unjust.  But  the  Protectionist  thinks  he  has  an  eco- 
nomic principle  to  justify  his  position.  He  claims 
indulgence  for  his  interference  with  the  freedom  of 
exchange,  on  the  grounds  of  social  expediency.  His 
ideal  is  a  tax  which  is  sufficiently  high  to  prohibit 
the  importation  of  goods  of  foreign  manufacture. 
From  such  a  tax  no  revenue  could  be  derived.  It 
may  be  called  a  "tariff  for  protection  only."  The  ob- 
ject of  such  a  tana  is  simply  to  protect  the  domestic 
manufacturer  from  competition  with  foreign  rivals, 
and  so  to  enable  him  to  charge  a  higher  price  for  his 
goods  than  he  could  otherwise  obtain.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  the  extra  price  which  is  charged  on  ac- 
count of  such  a  tariff  is  not  a  tax  but  simple  profit. 
If  the  tariff  is  so  successful  as  to  prevent  all  im- 
portations no  tax  is  paid  at  all.  The  manufacturer 
would  still  reap  this  extra  profit  if,  instead  of  levying 
a  tax  on  imports,  the  government  were  to  punish  all 
importers  as  criminals.  So  while  this  form  of  profit 
is,  under  existing  conditions,  due  to  a  tax,  it  is  not 
itself  a  tax.  For  the  arguments  in  favor  of,  or 
against,  the  removal  of  this  special  privilege,  I  must 
refer  the  reader  to  works  which  treat  of  it  in  detail. 

Licenses  of  all  kinds  are  of  a  similar  nature. 
They  are  especially  designed  to  restrict  the  number  of 
persons  engaged  in  certain  occupations.  Such  restric- 
tions, by  limiting  the  competition,  must  always  en- 
able those  engaged  in  the  licensed  industry  to  charge 
higher  prices  than  they  otherwise  could.  The  ex- 
cuse offered  for  their  existence  is  that  those  engaged 
in  the  licensed  industries  need  special  watching, 
either  because  the  nature  of  those  industries  offers 
extra  opportunities  for  fraud,  or  because  those  en- 
gaged in  such  industries  are  more  than  ordinarily 
depraved  and  liable  to  impose  upon  the  ignorance 


142  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

of  their  fellow  mortals— an  insult  at  once  to  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  general  public,  and  to  the  honesty  of 
large  numbers  of  men  engaged  in  various  profes- 
sions and  callings. 

The  protection  of  ignorance  is  not  justified  by 
Equal  Freedom  and  must  ever  result  disastrously. 
Experience  alone  can  prove  which  is  the  ignorant 
and  which  is  the  wise  man.  An  attempt  to  pro- 
tect the  former  almost  always  results  in  restrain- 
ing the  activities  of  the  latter.  If  a  man  is  ignorant, 
nothing  will  teach  him  quicker  than  experience.  If 
that  experience  kills  him,  there  will  be  one  fool  less 
in  the  world,  and  the  human  race  will  be  purer,  bet- 
ter and  nobler  for  his  demise. 

Special  privileges  of  this  nature  prevent  men 
from  engaging  in  certain  occupations  where  they 
might  earn  an  honest  living,  and  where  they  might 
discover  new  methods  and  improvements  to  the  ben- 
efit of  the  whole  human  race.  They  prevent  free 
competition  and,  by  so  doing,  they  enable  the  favored 
fewr  to  collect  larger  fees  from  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity. The  only  reason  they  exist  is  to  protect  and 
foster  ignorance  and  stupidity. 

The  question  of  patents  and  copyrights  requires 
longer  notice.  It  is  claimed  by  "many  that  these  rights 
are  not  special  privileges  but  forms  of  the  right  of 
property.  Herbert  Spencer  says,  "That  a  man's  right 
to  the  produce  of  his  brain  is  equally  valid  with  his 
right  to  the  produce  of  his  hands,  is  a  fact  which  has 
as  yet  obtained  but  a  very  imperfect  recognition." 
(Social  Statics,  Revd.  Ed.,  p.  68.)  He  devotes  the  rest 
of  the  chapter  to  endeavoring  to  prove  that  a  prop- 
erty right  in  ideas  is  justified,  nay  even  demanded,  by 
the  principle  of  Equal  Freedom. 

If  ideas  belong  to  whoever  discovers  them,  it  is 
unjust  to  limit  that  property  right  in  any  way.  My 


SPECIAL  PRIVILEGES.  143 

property  right  to  a  box  I  have  made  involves  my  right 
to  that  box  under  all  circumstances.  It  is  mine.  No 
considerations  of  time  or  place  can  alter  the  fact. 
No  one  has  any  business  to  interfere  with  it.  I  can  do 
with  it  as  I  choose  as  long  as  I  live  and  when  I  die, 
it  belongs  to  my  heirs  forever.  It  is  mine  to  use  or 
not  to  use,  to  destroy  or  to  preserve,  just  as  I  see  fit. 
So,  if  it  be  asserted  that  a  man  has  a  property  right 
to  ideas,  the  proposition  involves  the  same  degree  of 
proprietorship.  It  is  absurd  to  say  that  I  have  a 
property  right  in  something  to-day,  and  that  to-mor- 
row that  property  right  expires;  or  to  say  that  some- 
thing is  mine  on  one  side  of  an  imaginary  line  but  not 
on  the  other.  Nor  is  it  any  less  absurd  to  argue  that 
I  may  not  do  as  I  will  with  my  own.  As  soon  as  this 
is  asserted,  property  right  is  denied.  If,  as  Alphonse 
Karr  says,  "Literary  property  is  a  property,"  it  is  a 
property  under  all  circumstances,  in  every  country 
and  at  all  times.  It  is  the  absolute  property  of  its 
owner  and  his  heirs  forever,  to  do  with  as  they 
please,  to  use  or  not  to  use,  or  even  to  destroy.  And 
no  one  may  use  any  idea  to  his  advantage,  without 
the  consent  of  the  discoverer  of  that  idea. 

Christopher  Columbus  had  an  idea  one  day.  As 
a  result  of  that  idea  he  discovered  America.  All 
ideas  are  the  property  of  their  discoverers  and  their 
heirs  for  all  time,  and  no  one  may  take  advantage 
of  such  ideas  without  the  consent  of  their  owners. 
Therefore,  no  one  may  live  in  America  without  the 
consent  of  the  heirs  of  Christopher  Columbus.  Cax- 
ton  invented  printing.  Therefore,  no  one  shall  be- 
come a  printer  without  the  consent  of  Caxton's  heirs. 
Thousands  of  similar  cases  might  be  quoted. 

To  maintain  the  right  of  an  inventor  or  author 
to  absolute  property  in  his  ideas,  is  to  give  him  power 
to  say  how  they  shall  be  used.  A  copyright  based 


144  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

upon  this  principle  would  not  only  prevent  any  un- 
authorized person  from  reprinting  the  author's  works, 
it  would  also  prevent  any  purchaser  of  the  works 
from  lending  them  to  anyone  without  the  author's 
consent.  This  may  seem  a  little  exaggerated  to  some 
people.  If  so  I  commend  to  their  notice  the  follow- 
ing paragraph,  which  was  originally  printed  in  the 
Boston  Advertiser  some  years  ago:  "One  of  the  oldest 
publishers  in  the  city  (Boston)  is  decidedly  of  the 
opinion  that  public  libraries  are  a  real  disadvantage 
to  the  author.  While  Congress  is  devising  means  to 
protect  authors,  he  contends,  it  would  do  them  great 
service  to  pass  a  law  that  no  public  library  shall  place 
a  book  upon  its  shelves  without  the  consent  of  the 
author."  (Library  Journal,  May,  1892.)  If  such  a 
course  is  justifiable  in  regard  to  public  libraries,  why 
not  prohibit  private  individuals  lending  books  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  authors  ?  Here  is  another  case. 
It  is  not  unusual  for  advertising  concerns  to  pur- 
chase copies  of  illustrated  papers,  take  them  apart, 
interleave  them  with  advertisements,  rebind  them 
and  distribute  them  gratuitously.  In  consequence  of 
this,  "Judge"  carries  the  following  warning  at  the 
head  of  its  editorial  column:  "The  publishers  of 
.  .  .  Judge  notify  the  public  that  the  use  of 
Judge  in  local  advertising  schemes,  by  printing  and 
inserting  advertising  pages  between  its  leaves,  is  a 
direct  violation  of  the  publishers'  right  under  the 
copyright  law.  All  copies  of  Judge  are  sold  upon  the 
express  condition  that  they  will  not  be  used  for  such 
purposes.  .  .  .  Notice  is  hereby  given  that  the 
United  States  circuit  court  has  recently  granted  an 
injunction  restraining  the  use  of  Judge  in  this  way." 
Here  is  a  direct  recognition  by  the  law  of  the  prop- 
erty right  of  the  publisher  in  every  copy  of  his  paper, 


SPECIAL  PRIVILEGES.  145 

eveu  after  that  paper  has  beeii  bought  and  paid  for. 
These  are  but  logical  deductions  of  the  right  to  prop- 
erty in  ideas. 

Again,  the  absolute  property  right  involves  the 
right  of  destruction.  Suppose  now  the  heirs  of  Prof. 
Huxley  were  to  become  bigoted  Christians,  they 
would  be  entirely  within  their  right  if  they  sup- 
pressed all  his  works,  and  prevented  everyone  from 
reprinting  them  for  all  time.  They  could  even  com- 
pel all  people  who  owned  copies  of  his  book  to  sell 
them  to  them  for  this  purpose.  Such  a  course  would 
not  be  improbable.  Lady  Burton  destroyed  the 
manuscript  which  had  cost  her  husband  fifteen  years' 
labor,  because  she  considered  it  immoral.  Why 
should  not  any  other  bigot  attempt  to  suppress  works 
he  thought  unfit  for  publication,  if  he  had  the 
powder?  The  natural  history  of  the  animal  teaches 
us  that  this  is  his  overruling  passion.  But  why  con- 
tinue this  any  longer?  The  absurdity  of  perpetual 
and  unlimited  patents  and  copyrights  must  be  clear 
to  everyone.  Yet,  since  this  absurdity  is  involved  in 
the  hypothesis  of  property  in  ideas,  that  hypothesis 
must  be  declared  absurd  and  untenable. 

But  waiving  all  these  difficulties  for  the  present, 
what  are  ideas,  to  which  a  property  right  is  claimed? 
Did  Stevenson  invent  the  locomotive  engine  unaided? 
Did  Newton  evolve  the  law  of  gravitation  out  of 
his  inner  consciousness?  No.  Every  discovery  in 
science,  every  invention  in  mechanical  arts,  every 
philosophical  system,  is  but  one  more  link  in  the 
chain  of  human  knowledge.  We  build  upon  the  past, 
and  the  future  will  in  turn  take  up  the  task  where 
we  have  left  off.  Herbert  Spencer  would  have  been 
as  impossible  in  the  eighteenth  century,  as  would 
Edison  have  been  without  Franklin.  Shakspere 


146  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

merely  rewrote  a  lot  of  ancient  plays,  and  Copernicus 
gained  his  idea  of  the  revolution  of  the  planets  from 
a  sentence  in  the  works  of  some  obscure  and  long 
forgotten  Greek  astronomer/  It  is  impossible  to  say, 
"This  is  original  and  that  is  not."  Everything  is 
original,  or  nothing  is  original,  just  which  way  you 
choose  to  look  at  it.  Certain  conditions  create  certain 
needs.  If  those  needs  are  not  filled  in  one  way,  they 
will  be  in  another.  If  not  by  one  man,  then  by  some- 
one else.  Darwin  and  Wallace  both  discovered  the 
theory  of  natural  selection  almost  simultaneously. 
Proudhon,  Marx  and  Josiah  Warren  all  worked  out 
the  cost  principle,  entirely  independently  of  each 
other,  at  very  nearly  the  same  time.  Hundreds  of 
such  cases  might  be  quoted.  "Mark  Twain,"  a  firm 
believer  in  copyright,  is  authority  for  the  following:* 

"The  following  statement,  which  I  have  clipped 
from  a  newspaper,  is  true.  I  had  the  facts  from  Mr. 
Ho  wells'  lips  when  the  episode  was  new: 

"  'A  lady  of  Rochester,  New  York,  contributed 
to  the  magazine  (Atlantic)  after  "Dr.  Breen's  Prac- 
tice" was  in  type,  a  short  story  which  so  much  resem- 
bled Mr.  Howells'  that  he  felt  it  necessary  to  call 
upon  her  and  explain  the  situation  of  affairs  in  order 
that  no  charge  of  plagiarism  might  be  preferred 
against  him.'  .  .  . 

"Here  is  another  case.  I  clip  it  from  a  news- 
paper. .  .  .  'Miss  Anna  M.  Crane,  of  Baltimore, 
published  Emily  Chester,  a  novel  which  was  pro- 
nounced a  very  striking  and  strong  story.  A  compar- 


*  In  a  prefatory  note  to  the  article  quoted,  the  author 
states  that  it  was  written  in  all  seriousness  and  not  as  a 
satire.  So  it  must  be  accepted  as  a  true  statement.  I 
quote  these  cases  merely  to  illustrate  my  point,  and  do  not 
in  any  way  bind  myself  to  accept  Mark  Twain's  explana- 
tion of  them. 


SPECIAL   PRIVILEGES.  147 

ison  of  this  book  with  Moods  showed  that  the  two 
writers,  though  entire  strangers  to  each  other,  and 
living  hundreds  of  miles'  apart,  had  both  chosen  the 
same  subject  for  their  novels,  had  followed  almost 
the  same  line  of  treatment  up  to  a  certain  point, 
where  the  parallel  ceased,  and  the  denouements  were 
entirely  opposite.  And  even  more  curious,  the  lead- 
ing characters  in  both  books  had  identically  the  same 
names,  so  that  the  names  in  Miss  Alcott's  novel  had 
to  be  changed.'  .  .  . 

"Four  or  five  times  within  my  recollection  there 
has  been  a  lively  newspaper  war  in  this  country  over 
poems  whose  authorship  was  claimed  by  two  or  three 
different  people  at  the  same  time.  There  was  a  war 
of  this  kind  over  'Nothing  to  Wear,'  'Beautiful  Snow,' 
'Rock  Me  to  Sleep,  Mother,'  and  also  over  one  of 
Mr.  Will  Carletons  early  ballads,  I  think."  (S.  L. 
Clemens,  Mental  Telegraphy,  in  £1,000,000  Bank  Note 
and  Other  New  Stories,  pp.  56-57.) 

Are  we  to  give  a  man  a  property  right  in  ideas 
he  discovers  to-day,  and  deny  it  to  the  man  who 
discovers  the  same  ideas  to-morrow?  Both  are  chil- 
dren of  the  same  social  system.  Both  are  living  in  a 
society  which  has  attained  a  certain  intellectual 
growth.  Why  should  we  say  to  one  man,  "These 
ideas  are  yours  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  to  do 
with  as  you  please,"  and  to  that  man,  "You  are  too 
late.  Your  ideas  have  already  been  monopolized." 
That  it  is  impossible,  without  destroying  the  law,  to 
so  adjust  it  that  both  may  reap  an  equal  benefit, 
must  be  apparent  to  anyone  who  considers  the  facts 
of  the  case.  For  example,  A  has  a  patent  right. 
B  infringes  it,  either  in  good  faith  or  by  wilful  copy- 
ing. Under  the  present  law,  A  has  to  prove  that  B 
is  manufacturing  and  selling  goods  very  similar  to 
those  protected  by  his  patent.  That  is  all.  If  that 


14**  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

can  be  proved,  B  must  be  restrained.  If  the  law 
were  amended  in  any  way  so  as  to  give  B  the  ad- 
vantage of  independent  discovery,  A  would  find  it 
impossible  to  protect  his  patent  right.  If  independent 
discovery  were  ever  admitted,  it  would  either  have 
to  be  disproved  by  A  or  proved  by  B,  both  of  which 
would  be  impossible  in  nearly  every  case,  and  would 
involve  both  parties  in  almost  endless  litigation.  So 
it  would  be  practically  impossible  to  adequately  pro- 
tect A  without  doing  injustice  to  B. 

Spencer  admits  the  difficulty  of  dealing  with  sim- 
ultaneous, independent  discovery.  He  says,  "In  con- 
sequence of  the  probability,  or  perhaps  we  may  say 
the  certainty,  that  causes  leading  to  the  evolution 
of  a  new  idea  in  our  mind,  will  eventually  produce 
a  like  result  in  some  other  mind,  the  claim  above 
set  forth  (for  property  in  ideas)  must  not  be  admitted 
without  limitation.  Many  have  remarked  the  ten- 
dency which  exists  for  an  invention  or  discovery  to 
be  made  by  independent  investigators  nearly  at  the 
same  time.  There  is  nothing  really  mysterious  in 
this.  A  certain  state  of  knowledge,  a  recent  ad- 
vancement in  science,  the  occurrence  of  some  new 
social  want — these  form  the  conditions  under  which 
minds  of  similar  characters  are  stimulated  to  like 
trains  of  thought,  ending,  as  they  are  prone  to  do, 
in  kindred  results.  Such  being  the  fact,  there  arises 
a  qualification  to  the  right  of  property  in  ideas, 
which  it  seems  difficult  and  even  impossible  to  spec- 
ify definitely.  The  laws  of  patent  and  copyright 
express  this  qualification  by  confining  the  inventor's 
or  author's  privilege  within  a  certain  term  of  years. 
But  in  what  way  the  length  of  tlfat  term  may  be 
found  with  correctness  there  is  no  saying."  (Social 
Statics,  Revd.  Ed.,  p.  72.) 


SPECIAL  PRIVILEGES.  149 

This  kind  of  reasoning  is  more  picturesque  than 
logical.  Spencer  here  shows  us  clearly  that  the  grant- 
ing of  a  patent  to  A  is  an  infringement  of  B's  lib- 
erty. But  in  order  to  even  things  up  a  little  he  pro- 
poses to  deprive  A  of  the  property,  to  whieh  he 
has  supposedly  established  A's  claim,  in  order,  not 
that  B  may  be  remunerated  in  particular,  but  that 
the  rest  of  the  community  may  plunder  the  prop- 
erty as  much  as  they  like  after  A  has  saved 
what  he  could  during  certain  years.  If  granting  a 
patent  to  A  prevents  B  from  making  similar  dis- 
coveries, either  simultaneously  with  A  or  subse- 
quently, the  granting  of  that  patent  is  clearly  an  in- 
vasion of  B's  liberty.  If  it  is  not  an  invasion,  why 
limit  A's  right  to  his  property?  And  if  it  is  an  in- 
vasion, what  good  does  it  do  B  to  limit  the  period 
of  the  invasion  to  twenty  years? 

It  is  urged  by  some  that,  while  no  property 
can  equitably  be  held  in  ideas,  it  is  only  just  that 
people  be  allowed  a  property  right  in  the  expression 
of  those  ideas.  But  that  very  expression  is  itself 
an  idea.  In  the  case  of  Miss  Crane  and  Miss  Alcott, 
above  quoted,  the  two  authors  followed  the  same 
plot  and  even  gave  their  characters  the  same  names, 
without  previous  knowledge  of  each  other.  In  this 
case,  which  is  the  idea  and  which  the  expression  of 
that  idea?  The  two  things  are  inseparable,  and  the 
arguments  which  apply  against  one  are  valid  when 
directed  against  the  other. 

The  hypothesis  of  property  in  ideas  is  absurd, 
so  copyright  and  patents  are  nothing  but  special 
privileges.  In  fact  they  were  never  designed  as 
anything  else.  A  great  English  authority  on  juris- 
prudence tells  us,  "In  modern  times  the  inventor  of 
a  new  process  obtains  from  the  State,  by  way  of 


150  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

recompense  for  the  benefit  he  has  conferred  upon 
society,  and  in  order  to  encourage  others  to  follow 
his  example,  not  only  an  exclusive  privilege  of  using 
the  new  process  for  a  fixed  term  of  years,  but  also 
the  right  of  letting  or  selling  his  privilege  to  an- 
other." (Holland,  Jurisprudence,  Ed.  5,  p.  179.)  Many 
defend  the  existence  of  such  monopolies  on  these 
grounds.  They  claim  that  "they  are  necessary  to 
encourage  literary  industry  and  to  foster  inventive 
genius."  The  same  old  argument.  Change  the  word 
"literary"  to  "infant"  and  "inventive  genius"  to 
"domestic  manufactures"  and  everyone  will  recognize 
the  sole  intellectual  stock  in  trade  of  the  Protec- 
tionist. In  order  to  protect  a  certain  class  of  men, 
we  are  to  enable  them  to  tax  all  the  rest  of  the 
community!  But  I  deny  this  necessity.  Monopoly  is 
not  necessary  to  secure  fair  pay  to  authors  and 
inventors,  and  to  more  than  this  they  are  not  en- 
titled. Mr.  Benj.  R.  Tucker  tells  us,  "I  deny  that,  in 
the  absence  of  copyright  and  in  the  presence  of 
competition,  authors  will  have  no  earthly  chance 
of  being  financially  remunerated.  In  what  I  shall 
say  under  this  head,  I  shall  speak  as  a  book  publisher 
and  an  expert,  and  I  claim  for  my  statements  as 
much  authority  as  may  rightfully  be  awarded  ex- 
pert testimony.  It  is  a  rule,  to  which  exceptions 
are  very  rare,  that,  even  in  the  absence  of  copyright, 
competing  editions  are  not  published  except  of  books 
the  demand  for  which  has  already  been  large  enough 
to  more  than  reasonably  reward  both  author  and 
publisher  for  their  labor.  Take,  for  instance,  a  pa- 
per novel  that  retails  at  50  cents.  We  will  suppose 
that  for  this  book  there  is  a  demand  of  10,000  copies. 
These  copies  cost  the  publisher,  to  make  and  market, 
say  17  cents  each.  He  pays  the  author  5  cents  for 


SPECIAL  PRIVILEGES.  151 

each  copy  sold— that  is  the  customary  royalty  of  ten 
per  cent,  of  the  retail  price.  The  total  cost  to  the 
publisher,  then,  is  22  cents  per  copy.  He  sells  these 
books  to  the  jobbers  at  25  cents  each,  leaving  himself 
a  profit  of  3  cents  a  copy.  He  probably  has  orders 
from  the  book  trade  for  three  to  six  thousand 
copies  before  publication.  If  the  final  demand  is  not 
to  exceed  the  edition  of  10,000  copies,  the  sale  of  the 
balance  will  drag  along  slowly  and  more  slowly 
through  several  years.  During  this  time  the  author 
will  receive  as  his  royalty  $500  in  payment  for  a  book 
which  he  was  probably  less  than  sixty  days  in  writ- 
ing. I  maintain  that  he  is  more  than  reasonably 
paid.  No  rival  edition  of  his  book  has  sprung  up 
(we  are  supposing  an  absence  of  copyright)  for  the 
reason  that  the  demand  did  not  prove  large  enough 
to  induce  a  second  publisher  to  risk  the  expense 
of  making  a  set  of  plates.  But  now  let  us  suppose 
that  on  publication  so  brisk  a  demand  had  immedi- 
ately arisen  as  to  show  that  the  sale  would  be  20,000 
instead  of  10,000.  The  publisher,  as  before,  would 
have  sold  three  to  six  thousand  in  advance,  and  the 
balance  of  the  first  10,000  would  have  disappeared 
before  any  rival  publisher  could  have  made  plates 
and  put  an  edition  on  the  market.  As  before,  then, 
both  author  and  publisher  would  have  been  more 
than  adequately  paid.  But  at  this  point  steps  in  a 
rival.  Having  to  pay  no  author  and  to  do  no  adver- 
tising, he  can  produce  the  book  at  say  14  cents  a 
copy,  and  perhaps  will  sell  it  to  the  trade  at  20  cents. 
It  now  becomes  optional  with  the  author  and  first 
publisher  to  maintain  the  old  price  and  sell  perhaps 
one  thousand  of  the  second  10,000  or  to  reduce  the 
one  his  royalty  and  the  other  his  profit,  sell  the  book 
to  the  trade  almost  as  low  as  the  rival,  and  control 


I52  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

nearly  half  the  subsequent  market.  In  either  case, 
both  author  and  publisher  are  sure  to  get  still  fur- 
ther pay  for  services  that  have  already  been  more 
than  reasonably  rewarded,  and  the  public  mean- 
while benefits  by  the  reduction  in  price.  Why  has 
no  competing  edition  of  'The  Rag  Picker  of  Paris' 
been  published  during  the  six  months  it  has  been  on 
the  market?  Simply  because,  though  a  more  than 
ordinarily  successful  novel,  it  did  not  develop  a  suf- 
ficient demand  to  tempt  another  publisher.  Yet  it 
has  paid  me  more  than  equitably.  Why,  on  the 
other  hand,  did  two  competing  editions  of  'The 
Kreutzer  Sonata'  appear  on  the  market  before  mine 
had  had  the  field  two  months?  Simply  because  the 
money  was  pouring  into  my  pockets  with  a  rapidity  . 
that  nearly  took  my  breath  away.  And  after  my 
rivals  took  the  field,  it  poured  in  faster  than  ever, 
until  I  was  paid  nearly  50  times  over  for  my  work."* 
(Liberty,  10th  January,  1891.) 

Exactly  the  same  forces  are  at  work  in  the  case 
of  inventions  and  often  in  an  intensified  form,  as 
new  inventions  usually  require  special  machinery 
for  their  manufacture.  I  will  even  go  further  than 
this.  A  patent  is  often  a  direct  disadvantage  to  an 
inventor.  "When  a  patent  has  been  granted,"  says 
Chamber's  Encyclopaedia,  "if  it  is  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  lead  to  competition,  infringements  are  almost 
matters  of  course,  and  the  only  mode  of  discovering 
and  checking  the  infringement  is  so  tedious,  costly 
and  ineffective  that  inventors  generally  pass  their 
lives  in  constant  litigation,  fighting  in  detail  a  suc- 
cession of  imitators  who  often  have  nothing  to  lose 
by  defeat,  and  therefore  entail  all  the  greater  burden 


*  It  should  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Tucker  here  refers 
to  his  work  as  translator,  as  well  as  that  of  publisher. 


SPECIAL  PRIVILEGES.  153 

on  the  legitimate  manufacturers."  Mr.  Edison  seems 
to  agree  with  this,  and  surely  no  one  will  deny  that 
he  is  an  authority  upon  the  subject.  In  an  inter- 
view he  is  reported  as  saying:  "Our  patent  system 
puts  a  premium  on  rascality.  I  have  taken  out  700 
patents  for  my  inventions,  but  I  have  never  had  one 
minute's  protection.  ...  I  have  never  made  one 
cent  out  of  my  inventions;  all  I  have  made  has  been 
out  of  manufacturing.  ...  I  believe  I  would  be 
$600,000  better  off  if  I  had  never  taken  out  a  patent. 
What  I  have  made  has  been  because  I  have  under- 
stood the  inventions  better,  and  have  been  able  to 
manipulate  the  manufacturing  of  them  better  than 
the  pirates."  (See  an  article  by  A.  L.  Ballou,  in  "The 
Electrical  Worker,"  June,  1895.) 

The  concerns  which  do  reap  the  benefit  of  pat- 
ents, etc.,  are  large  corporations  like  the  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company.  These  concerns  are  often  able  to 
carry  on  litigation  until  the  owner  of  the  patent  is 
only  too  willing  to  sell  at  their  figure.  It  is  common 
for  these  companies  to  buy  up  all  improvements  on 
their  patents.  They  withhold  these  from  use  until 
the  original  monopoly  expires,  and  then  use  them  to 
prevent  competition.  It  is  truly  wise  of  us  to  foster 
inventions  in  such  a  manner  that  large  corporations 
can  prevent  us  from  using  them  as  long  as  it  suits 
their  convenience. 

So  the  only  excuse  for  these  special  privileges 
disappears  as  soon  as  it  is  carefully  examined.  A 
copyright  does  not  enable  the  literary  men  whose 
labor  is  most  intense  to  reap  any  extra  reward  for 
their  labor.  Spencer  himself  admits  that  he  lost 
about  £3,250  (over  $16,000)  on  the  compilation  and 
publication  of  his  Descriptive  Sociology.  (See  prefa- 
tory note  to  Descriptive  Sociology,  Part  8.)  Yet  that 


154  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

must  have  cost  an  immense  amount  of  the  most 
severe  literary  labor.  What  copyright  does  is  to  en- 
able popular  writers  to  reap  a  monopoly  price  for 
what  is  often  little  better  than  literary  garbage.  It 
creates  a  spirit  of  commercialism  in  literature,  very 
much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  literature.  One  of 
the  most  common  manifestations  of  this  degrading 
influence,  is  the  way  in  w7hich  writers  grind  out 
sequel  after  sequel  to  any  novel  that  meets  with 
popular  favor.  The  success  of  the  first  book  is  the 
best  advertisement  of  its  sequel,  so  a  large  sale  can 
always  be  reckoned  on.  In  the  absence  of  copyright, 
the  author  would  know  that  a  competing  edition 
would  be  placed  upon  the  market  at  once,  and  so 
make  a  sequel  if  anything  less  remunerative  to  him 
than  an  entirely  new  work.  This  would  cause  him 
to  stop  when  he  had  said  all  he  had  to  say  on  any 
given  subject,  instead  of  hashing  and  rehashing  it 
until  the  public  was  fairly  nauseated  with  his  inane 
repetitions.  This  is  only  one  of  many  instances 
which  might  be  quoted.  Whatever  it  may  be  to  the 
author  and  publisher,  copyright  is  really  a  curse  to 
literature  instead  of  a  blessing.  So  as  Spencer  says 
in  his  plea  for  the  other  side,  "in  this,  as  in  other 
cases,  disobedience  to  the  moral  law  is  ultimately 
detrimental  to  all."  (Social  Statics,  Revd.  Ed.,  p. 
71.) 


CHAPTER  XI. 


PROFIT. 


If  a  merchant  is  doing  business  with  borrowed 
money,  he  has  to  pay  interest  on  that  money  out  of 
the  difference  between  the  price  at  which  he  buys, 
and  the  price  at  which  he  sells  his  goods.  And  if  the 
money  invested  in  his  business  is  his  own,  he  will 
expect  to  receive  that  interest  himself.  For  if  he 
could  not  get  interest  in  this  manner,  but  could  do  so 
by  lending  it  to  another,  he  would  most  assuredly 
follow  the  latter  course. 

With  rent  the  situation  is  exactly  similar. 
Whether  the  ground  on.  which  the  business  is  con- 
ducted be  owned  by  the  business  man  himself  or  by 
someone  else,  rent  has  to  be  paid  out  of  the  margin 
on  the  sales.  And  again,  if  the  proprietor  of  the  busi- 
ness cannot  make  as  much,  after  paying  all  the  ex- 
penses of  his  business,  as  he  could  working  on  salary 
as  manager  of  a  similar  concern,  he  would  rather 
rent  his  land,  lend  his  money  on  interest,  and  work 
for  someone  else. 

Therefore,  the  margin  between  the  price  at  which 
goods  are  bought,  and  that  at  which  they  are  sold, 
must  be  sufficient  to  cover  Rent,  Interest,  Wages  of 


156  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

of  superintendence,  Wages  of  employes,  Insurance 
and  all  the  incidental  expenses  of  business.  If  it  falls 
below  that  point,  a  number  of  traders  will  go  out  of 
business,  or  else  seek  some  more  remunerative  occu- 
pation. This  will  reduce  the  competition  among  the 
rest  so  they  will  be  able  to  buy  and  sell  to  better 
advantage  than  before  and  the  margin  will  increase 
until  it  is  sufficient  to  cover  these  charges. 

While  this  margin  can  never  permanently  fall 
much  below  the  point  here  indicated,  it  can,  and 
often  does,  exceed  it,  so  making  what  is  technically 
known  as  profit.  For  example,  a  man  has  $10,000  in- 
vested in  his  business.  If  this  was  lent  at  6  per 
cent,  interest  it  would  bring  in  $600  a  year.  He  also 
owns  the  ground  on  which  his  store  is  situated.  This 
we  will  say  could  be  rented  for  $500.  As  manager  of 
a  similar  business  he  could  command  a  salary  of,  say, 
$1,500.  If  his  business  is  to  be  profitable,  it  must 
yield  not  less  than  $600  interest,  $500  rent,  $1,500 
wages  of  superintendence,  making  a  total  of  $2,600. 
This  sum  must  remain  after  all  current  expenses,  such 
as  wages  of  help,  insurance,  allowance  for  bad  debts, 
wear  and  tear  on  the  property  has  been  paid.  Instead 
of  $2,600  the  business  man  finds  he  has  cleared,  say, 
$3,000.  The  difference  between  these  sums— $400— is 
clear  profit. 

Since  the  wages  of  the  proprietor  have  been  de- 
ducted before,  and  these  wages  were  determined  by 
his  ability  to  conuuct  such  a  business  satisfactorily, 
ample  allowance  had  already  been  made  for  superior 
executive  ability.  It  is  absurd,  therefore,  to  claim 
that  the  profit  is  the  result  of  the  way  in  which  the 
business  is  managed,  and  as  such,  rightfully  belongs 
to  the  manager.  If  profit  is  not  produced  by  the  labor 
of  the  proprietor  (in  which  case  it  would  not  be 


PROFIT.  157 

profit  but  wages)  it  must  have  been  obtained  from  the 
labor  of  someone  else,  and  so  is  inconsistent  with  the 
Cost  Principle. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  profit  arises  in  some  forms 
of  business.  Special  legislation  restricting  the  freest 
competition  in  any  branch  of  industry,  enables  those 
who  are  engaged  in  that  business  to  charge  higher 
prices  for  their  goods  than  they  otherwise  could. 
Such  things  as  these  are  easy  to  deal  with.  Repeal 
the  special  privileges  and  the  profit  accruing  from 
them  will  cease  to  exist.  But  while  this  would  re- 
duce profit  in  certain  lines,  it  would  not  abolish  it 
altogether.  Other  causes  would  still  tend  to  perpetu- 
ate its  existence. 

When  we  examine  the  extent  of  profit  in  various 
lines  of  business,  we  find  that  those  institutions 
whicii  ^iivolve  the  use  of  the  greatest  amount  of  land 
and  money  return  the  greatest  profit.  Large  iron 
works,  and  other  institutions  whicii  need  a  big  capi- 
tal, return  much  higher  profits  than  a  book  bindery 
or  a  printing  office.  The  wholesale  grocer  quickly 
amasses  a  fortune,  while  the  keeper  of  the  little 
corner  store  finds  it  difficult  to  keep  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  sheriff. 

The  rate  of  interest  on  $100,000  is  no  greater,  in 
fact  it  is  quite  often  less,  than  the  rate  of  interest 
on  $100.  But  the  number  of  men  who  own  $100,000 
is  very  much  less  than  the  number  who  own  $100,  and 
certainly  hundreds  could  borrow  the  latter  sum 
where  one  could  borrow  the  former.  Consequently, 
the  number  of  men  who  could  engage  in  any  busi- 
ness, becomes  more  and  more  limited  as  the  amount 
of  money  and  land  necessary  to  its  existence  in- 
creases. In  this  manner  the  competition  in  large 


158  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

business  undertakings  is  very  much  limited,  while 
in  those  in  which  small  capital  is  required  it  is  in- 
tensified. 

Once  establish  an  equitable  system  of  land  tenure, 
and  remove  the  restriction  on  the  use  of  credit  and 
the  issuance  of  money  and  all  this  is  immediately 
changed.  When  occupancy  and  use  are  the  sole  title 
to  land,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  spend  vast  sums 
of  money  purchasing  ground  on  whicn  to  start  large 
business  undertakings.  The  land  will  ue  free  to  all, 
and  all  will  be  able  to  avail  themselves  oi  me  oppor- 
tunities it  offers. 

When  Mutual  Banks  are  established,  few  people 
will  have  no  credit  which  they  can  use.  Large 
numbers,  who  to-day  are  deterred  from  negotiating 
loans  upon  the  security  they  possess  by  the  interest 
charged,  will  be  able  to  use  their  credit.  So  that, 
while  the  credit  of  each  individual  will  not  be  equal, 
there  will  be  sufficient  money  in  circulation  to  insure 
the  freest  possible  competition  in  all  branches  of 
production  and  distribution. 

The  inherent  selfishness,  not  to  say  laziness,  of 
the  human  race  prompts  a  man  to  get  all  he  can  with 
as  little  exertion  as  possible.  Consequently,  all  men 
desire  to  exchange  the  product  of  their  labor  for  the 
greatest  amount  of  commodities  that  they  can  get  for 
it.  If  a  man  finds,  that  by  working  at  a  certain  occu- 
pation he  can  make  more  with  the  same  amount  of 
exertion  than  he  can  when  otherwise  engaged,  he  will 
follow  that  occupation.  Once  land  and  money  are 
free,  there  will  be  nothing  to  prevent  most  men  from 
engaging  in  any  occupation  they  see  fit. 

Many  men  to-day  have  no  capital,  and  under  free 
conditions  even,  would  have  nothing  at  first  to  offer 
as  security  to  the  mutual  banks.  But  all  wage  earn- 


PROFIT.  159 

ers  are  not  in  this  unfortunate  condition.  Those 
whose  credit  is  good,  would  be  attracted  to  manufac- 
turing and  mercantile  pursuits,  because  they  promise 
greater  remuneration  for  the  amount  of  labor  ex- 
pended. This  would  at  once  reduce  the  competition 
among  the  wage  earners  and  increase  it  among  the 
employers  of  labor.  For  every  wage  earner  who  be- 
comes an  employer,  not  only  decreases  the  numoer 
of  applicants  for  work,  but  also  creates  a  demand  for 
others. 

Furthermore,  the  competition  among  the  manu- 
facturers and  merchants  would  force  me  price  of 
goods  down  to  the  lowest  possible  point,  which, 
since  rent,  interest  and  taxes  are  abolished,  would 
be  the  bare  cost  of  running  the  business,  including 
insurance  against  risk  and  wages  of  superintendence. 
As  soon  as  it  fell  below  that  point  the  change  would 
be  in  the  opposite  direction.  A  good  example  of  this 
is  seen  in  the  building  trades,  especially  in  the  West- 
ern States.  Bricklayers  generally  earn  good  wages. 
The  amount  of  capital  required  to  start  as  a  con- 
tractor is  small,  so  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  journey- 
men bricklayers  become  contractors.  Wherever  the 
conditions  are  free,  it  is  seldom  that  an  ordinary  con- 
tractor is  able  to  make  more  than  one  of  his  journey- 
men. I  have  often  noticed  in  times  of  great  activity 
in  this  trade,  that  quite  a  considerable  number  of 
men  are  alternately  employers  and  employes.  The  re- 
sult of  such  a  state  of  affairs,  is  to  maintain  a  condi- 
tion of  equality  between  the  journeymen  and  contrac- 
tors. If  this  works  this  way  in  one  trade,,  it  will  do 
so  in  every  trade  under  similar  conditions. 

Free  competition  will  increase  the  competition 
among  the  employers  and  decrease  it  among  the 
wage  earners.  The  dream  of  the  old  time  labor  re- 


160  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

formers  will  be  realized.  The  job  will  search  for  the 
laborer,  iiot  the  laborer  for  the  job.  Wheii  this  takes 
place  wages  must  necessarily  go  up  rapidly.  But  the 
increase  of  competition  among  the  manufacturers 
and  merchants  will  also  reduce  prices.  So  not  only 
will  the  wages  of  the  workers  be  increased  as  meas- 
ured in  money,  but  the  purchasing  power  of  that 
money  will  be  increased  owing  to  the  cheapening  of 
commodities. 

How  would  this  affect  such  men  as  farmers?  In 
order  to  make  the  matter  plain,  we  must  take  the  case 
of  a  farmer  who  is  working  on  a  rented  farm  and 
with  borrowed  capital.  For,  just  as  in  the  case  of 
the  merchant  cited  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter, 
if  he  owns  his  own  farm  and  capital  he  pays  rent  and 
interest  to  himself.  This  farmer,  then,  raises  sheep 
among  other  things.  Out  of  the  sale  of  the  wool  he 
has  to  pay  a  certain  amount  of  rent  and  interest.  (If 
he  raises  nothing  but  wool  he  has  to  pay  all  his  rent 
and  interest  from  this  source.)  So  that  only  a  por- 
tion of  the  price  he  gets  for  it  goes  to  him.  The  man 
to  whom  he  sells  the  wool  pays  for  transporting  it 
to  the  factory.  Out  of  the  sum  paid  for  transporta- 
tion, the  railroad  company  makes  rent,  interest  and 
profit.  The  dealer  also  adds  his  share  of  these  three 
items  to  the  cost  before  selling  the  wool  to  the  spin- 
ner. The  spinner  next  and  then  the  weaver,  next  the 
wholesale  merchant  and  then  the  retailer,  and  lastly 
the  boss  tailor  all  collect  rent,  interest  and  profit  be- 
fore the  wool  gets  back  to  the  farmer,  in  the  shape  of 
a  suit  of  clothes.  This  is  rather  understating  the 
case  than  exaggerating,  as,  with  our  minute  divisions 
of  labor,  the  material  often  passes  through  other 
hands  than  those  above  mentioned.  When  we  con- 
sider that  goods  are  often  transported  five  or  six 


PROFIT.  l6l 

times  before  they  reach  the  customer,  instead  of  only 
once,  we  see  how  great  a  proportion  of  the  total  cost 
to  the  customer  is  paid  in  the  shape  of  usury.  The  re- 
duction of  the  prices  will  be  effected  by  the  elimina- 
tion of  this  usury,  and  the  same  cause  will  raise  the 
original  price  of  the  raw  material  when  sold  by  the 
farmer.  The  farmer,  as  such,  is  a  wage  earner  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  he  is  not  employed  by  another. 
His  wages  come  out  of  the  price  of  the  goods  he 
sells.  As  a  wage  earner  the  same  forces  will  be  at 
work  to  increase  his  \vages  as  those  mentioned  above. 
The  extent  of  usury  is  shown  in  a  small  degree  by 
the  following  example:  "A  man  who  weaves  cloth  for 
which  he  receives  less  than  four  cents  a  yard  as  a 
producer,  may  have  to  pay  seventy-five  cents  a  yard 
as  a  consumer,  the  profit  to  the  retailer  in  such  case 
being  at  least  twenty-five  cents  a  yard;  that  is,  the 
retailer,  for  handling  one  yard  of  goods  receives 
twenty-five  cents  compensation,  where  the  weaver, 
for  weaving  the  same  yard  of  cloth  received  less  than 
four  cents  compensation.  This  single  illustration  is 
sufficient  to  show  how  far  distribution  is  at  fault  in 
matters  of  depression  and  as  an  obstacle  to  the  best 
interests  of  wage  earners."  (First  Annual  Report  of 
the  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor— Industrial  Depres- 
sions—p.  278.)  It  must  be  recollected,  however,  that 
a  certain  amount  of  labor  was  embodied  in  the  wool 
before  it  reached  the  hands  of  the  weaver.  After  he 
has  woven.it  it  had  to  be  distributed,  which  again 
necessitated  labor.  The  work  of  distribution  may  be 
considered  a  part  of  production,  as  goods  are  not 
fully  produced  until  they  reach  the  consumer.  The 
middleman  is  usually  as  necessary  to  production  as  is 
the  railway,  and  his  labor  must  be  paid  for.  But, 
even  admitting  all  these  facts,  it  is  absurd  to  say  that 


1 62  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

the  ivtaihT  adds  more  than  six  times  as  much  value 
to  the  goods  by  distributing  them  as  does  the  weaver 
by  making  the  cloth.  Under  free  conditions,  of 
course,  all  that  the  middleman  would  be  able  to  ob- 
tain would  be  just  the  market  value  of  his  labor.  If 
he  obtained  more,  other  men  would  go  into  that  line 
of  business  and,  by  cutting  prices,  would  lower  the 
price  to  the  consumer  and  curtail  their  own  profits. 
Here,  as  in  every  other  case,  free  competition  is  all 
that  is  required  to  establish  the  cost  principle. 

Many  writers  still  cling  to  the  idea  that  "co-op- 
eration" will  be  essential,  even  under  free  conditions. 
In  a  sense  this  is  true.  Co-operation  is  always  neces- 
sary in  any  except  the  most  primitive  state  of  soci- 
ety. But,  as  Prof.  F.  A.  Walker  says,  one  of  the 
greatest  difficulties  which  political  economy  encoun- 
ters "arises  from  the  use  of  terms  derived  from  the 
vocabulary  of  every-day  life  .  .  .  with  some  of 
which  are  associated  in  the  popular  mind  conceptions 
inconsistent  with,  or,  at  times,  perhaps,  antagonistic 
to,  those  which  are  in  the  view  of  the  writer  on  eco- 
nomics." A  striking  example  of  this  is  found  in  the 
use  of  the  word  co-operation.  This  word  has  come 
to  be  popularly  understood  as  implying  some  form 
of  copartnership.  Strictly  speaking,  of  course,  it 
means  only  "working-together;"  and,  when  Spencer 
speaks  of  voluntary  co-operation  being  a  character- 
istic of  industrialism,  I  take  it  that  he  uses  the  word 
in  this,  its  broadest  sense.  The  wool-grower,  the 
spinner,  the  weaver,  the  tailor,  all  work  together  to 
produce  a  suit  of  clothes,— that  is,  they  co-operate, 
though  there  may  be  no  kind  of  communistic  arrange- 
ment between  them.  Perhaps  "the  somewhat  unsat- 
isfactory term,  division  of  labor,"  expresses  the  idea 
more  clearly  in  many  respects.  It  is  in  this  sense 


PROFIT.  163 

that  Anarchists  often  use  the  word,  but,  owing  to 
the  popular  conception  of  its  meaning,  our  position 
on  may  important  questions  is  misunderstood. 

Under  free  conditions  there  would,  in  most  cases, 
be  no  necessity  for  co-operation  as  usually  under- 
stood. In  fact,  such  an  arrangement  would  often 
prove  to  be  more  of  a  curse  than  a  blessing.  To 
make  this  clear,  let  us  take  an  example.  Suppose 
several  men,  realizing  that  goods  can  be  bought 
cheaper  in  large  quantities,  agree  to  buy  their  gro- 
ceries together  and  divide  them  among  themselves. 
They  will  find  that  they  effect  a  saving  by  this 
arrangement.  But  they  have  really  performed  so 
much  extra  labor,  and  the  pay  for  that  labor  is  all 
they  have  saved.  They  have  performed  the  services 
of  one  middleman  and  so  save  his  profit.  As  they  go 
into  the  business  more  extensively,  this  becomes  more 
apparent.  They  will  soon  find  that  a  great  amount 
of  time  and  labor  is  requisite,  if  they  would  keep  in- 
formed of  the  state  of  the  market,— the  price  and  the 
quality  of  the  various  commodities.  So  great  will 
this  soon  become  that  it  will  more  than  counterbal- 
ance any  saving  they  may  effect.  It  is  absurd  to  sup- 
pose that  several  men,  engaged  in  other  callings,  can 
perform  the  functions  of  the  retailer  in  any  line  as 
well  as  men  who  devote  their  whole  time  to  that 
business.  To  obviate  this  difficulty,  the  co-operators 
must  either  give  up  their  scheme,  or  else  employ  a 
competent  manager  to  take  care  of  the  business. 
That  it  will  pay  them  to  employ  the  most  efficient 
manager  they  can  obtain  is  obvious.  But  such  a 
man  will  demand  the  highest  wages  he  can  get.  In 
the  absence  of  rent  and  interest,  his  wages  will  nec- 
essarily be  just  what  he  could  get  by  conducting  such 
a  business  for  himself.  So,  after  paying  the  salary 
of  the  manager,  the  goods  will  cost  the  consumers  as 


1 64  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

much  as  if  they  had  bought  from  a  retailer  in  the 
first  place.  In  addition  to  this,  they  will  have  all  the 
trouble  of  looking  after  the  manager  for  nothing. 
The  ordinary  retailer's  wages  depend  upon  the  suc- 
cess with  which  he  conducts  his  business,  but  the  sal- 
ary of  the  manager  of  a  co-operative  concern  is  not 
dependent  upon  the  results  of  his  efforts  in  anything 
like  the  same  degree. 

These  two  conceptions  of  the  term  co-operation 
are  antagonistic  to  a  very  great  extent,  for  the  popu- 
lar conception  is  really  a  denial  of  the  division  of 
labor.  When  a  man  does  a  little  carpenter- work  for 
himself,  he  thinks  he  saves  the  amount  he  would 
otherwise  have  paid  a  carpenter.  In  reality  he  has 
merely  earned  the  carpenter's  wages.  But,  as  he  is 
probably  a  poor  carpenter,  it  will  take  him  longer  to 
do  the  work  than  it  would  a  good  mechanic.  So  he 
will  be  earning  lower  wages.  It  would  be  better  for 
him  to  devote  the  same  amount  of  time  and  labor  to 
his  ordinary  occupation  and,  out  of  the  money  so 
earned,  pay  a  carpenter  to  do  the  work  for  him.  The 
same  is  true  in  regard  to  the  retailer. 

These  considerations,  however,  may  be  modified 
by  circumstances.  It  may  be  a  pleasure,  for  exam- 
ple, for  a  bookkeeper  to  do  a  little  wood-work  in  the 
evening.  Or  it  may  be  that  the  conditions  of  a  man's 
business  are  such  that  the  time  spent  in  this  kind  of 
work  could  not  be  profitably  employed  at  his  usual 
occupation.  But  these  factors  in  no  way  invalidate 
the  tenor  of  my  argument.  They  apply  only  in  iso- 
lated cases,  and  disappear  as  soon  as  the  co-opera- 
tive associations  are  organized. 

In  the  present  day,  of  course,  the  retailer  collects 
rent  and  interest  in  addition  to  his  wages.  So  there 
is  a  direct  saving  in  such  co-operation  when  con- 


PROFIT.  165 

ducted  on  a  small  scale.  But,  as  soon  as  a  regular 
business  is  established,  the  rent  and  interest  have  to 
be  paid  in  one  form  or  another,  and  so  the  benefits 
are  neutralized  as  soon  as  they  promise  to  become 
of  any  importance. 

To  conduct  such  enterprises,  it  is  necessary  that 
all  the  co-operators  form  an  agreement.  Such  an 
agreement  will  often  prove  a  hindrance  to  the  indi- 
vidual members,  if.  they  should  wish  to  act  at  vari- 
ance with  the  policy  of  the  association.  No  matter 
how  liberal  the  contract  might  be,  it  would  neces- 
sarily curtail  the  liberty  of  the  members  more  than 
if  no  such  organization  existed,  and  each  were  free 
to  purchase  his  goods  when,  where,  and  how  he 
liked,  without  reference  to  the  wishes  of  any  of  the 
rest  of  the  community.  We  have  already  seen  that 
there  would  be  no  economic  advantages  to  offset  this 
restriction  of  liberty;  so  such  associations  would  be 
a  positive  detriment  to  those  concerned. 

These  remarks  apply  with  just  as  much  force  to 
productive  as  to  distributive  "co-operative  associa- 
tions." The  management  of  a  large  factory  is  just 
as  much  a  trade  as  the  shoeing  of  horses.  It  will  be 
to  the  advantage  of  everyone  concerned  to  attend  to 
the  business  to  which  he  has  been  trained,  than  to 
attempt  to  meddle  with  that  of  which  he  knows  little 
or  nothing. 

Some  few  instances  might  be  found  where,  from 
the  nature  of  some  special  business,  it  could  be  con- 
ducted more  economically  upon  such  a  co-operative 
plan. 

But  such  instances  are  very  few.  I  apprehend 
that  even  Mutual  Banks  and  Protective  Associations 
will,  in  the  end,  be  conducted  by  individuals,  who 


166  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

will  cater  to  the  wants  of  their  customers  and  make 
what  wages  they  can  out  of  the  business,  rather 
than  by  communistic  associations  of  the  customers. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  conditions  herein 
set  forth  would  produce  an  absolute  equality  among 
all  kinds  of  laborers  (I  use  this  word  laborers  in  its 
very  widest  sense).  Such  a  result  would  be  unjust 
and  inharmonious  with  the  cost  principle.  In  the 
Sixth  Chapter  the  difference  in  the  intensity  of  differ- 
ent forms  of  labor  was  pointed  out.  This  same  factor 
must  be  taken  into  consideration  here.  A  man  will 
not  perform  more  intense  labor  for  the  same  wages 
-that  he  will  perform  that  which  is  less  intense, 
if  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  him  from  changing  his 
occupation.  He  will  always  demand  sufficient  to 
pay  him  for  the  extra  intensity  of  his  labor.  If  he 
does  not  get  it  he  will  immediately  change  his  occupa- 
tion and  apply  himself  to  the  easier  work.  Once  the 
axiom,  that  men  seek  to  gratify  their  desires  with 
the  least  exertion,  is  admitted,  all  these  propositions 
follow  as  logical  deductions.  It  is  thus  that  the 
Cost  Principle  can  be  established  and  the  wages  of 
each  occupation  be  adapted  to  the  intensity  of  the 
labor  involved,  without  the  necessity  of  elaborate 
statistics  and  interminable  and  intricate  mathemati- 
cal calculations  necessitated  by  a  State  Socialistic 
regime.  Liberty  works  automatically.  Tyranny  ever 
has  to  bolster  itself  up  with  elaborate  machinery, 
which  is  always  getting  out  of  oruer  and  producing 
the  most  unlocked  for  and  grotesque  results. 

It  may  be  objected  to  this,  that  all  men  cannot 
change  their  occupation  at  a  moment's  notice.  A 
man  who  has  been  brought  up  as  a  bricklayer  can- 
not suddenly  become  a  shoemaker.  This  is  greatly 
true.  Such  radical  changes  are  rare  and  are  not  nee- 


PROFIT.  167 

essary  to  the  theory.  If  10  per  cent,  or  even  5  per 
cent,  of  the  men  in  any  given  occupation,  were  to  en- 
gage in  other  kinds  of  work,  it  would  very  materially 
increase  the  wages  in  that  occupation.  When  we  con- 
sider that  many  of  the  changes  involved,  merely 
mean  changes  from  employe  to  employer  in  the  same 
line  of  business,  the  position  does  not  seem  at  all 
strained.  The  equality  of  wages  in  the  different 
trades,  will  be  maintained  principally  by  the  number 
of  recruits  to  the  rank  of  workers.  Boys  choosing  an 
occupation  are  governed  largely  by  their  special 
tastes  and  by  the  wages  paid  in  various  callings. 
Any  occupation  which  offered  special  inducements 
would  soon  be  crowded  with  new  workmen  and  so 
competition  would  reduce  their  pay.  On  the  other 
hand,  any  occupation  promising  but  a  poor  opening 
would  gain  few  new  recruits  and,  consequently, 
those  engaged  in  it  would  be  able  to  obtain  higner 
pay  for  their  services. 

But  the  difficulty  of  people  changing  their  occu- 
pations is  much  overestimated.  Under  the  present 
system,  those  occupations  which  require  special 
training,  are  subject  to  much  less  competition  than 
those  which  require  no  "such  training.  This  is  simply 
due  to  the  fact,  tnat  thousands  of  persons  cannot 
spare  the  time  and  money  necessary  to  special  train- 
ing, and  so  are  forced  to  do  the  commonest  kind  of 
manual  labor  regardless  of  their  adaptability  to  such 
a  life.  This  is  merely  usury  in  another  form.  Labor 
unions  also  have  a  decided  tendency  to  prevent  a  man 
from  changing  the  occupation  he  has  once  chosen.  I 
have  no  wish  to  decry  labor  unions.  They  have 
often  been  labor's  only  weapon  of  defence  against 
encroachments  of  capital.  In  their  way  they  are 
very  good  examples  of  voluntaryism  as  it  exists 


1 68  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

to-day.  But  they  must  not  be  regarded  as  anything 
more  than  mere  weapons  of  defence,  to  be  cast  aside 
as  the  conditions  which  called  them  into  being  are 
outgrown. 

Ideas  of  social  caste  also  tend  to  prevent  the  free 
choice  of  an  occupation,  and  many  other  forces  are 
at  work  in  a  similar  manner.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  the 
rigidity  of  our  present  system,  it  is  marvelous  how 
many  men  do  change  their  occupation.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  in  the  Western  States,  where  these  forces 
are  less  felt.  But  even  in  the  East  it  is  not  unusual 
for  a  man  to  enter  one  of  the  professions  after  de- 
voting many  years  to  other  callings.  How7  much 
more  may  we  not  expect  in  this  direction  when  these 
artificial  barriers  are  removed. 

One  other  factor  still  remains;  that  of  which  I 
have  spoken  in  the  Chapter  on  Land  as  the  "eco- 
nomic rent  of  intellect."  A  man  who  has  special  abil- 
ity in  any  direction,  will,  under  free  competition,  be 
able  to  obtain  more  wages  with  less  exertion  than 
others  engaged  in  the  same  occupation.  This  is  not 
strictly  in  harmony  with  the  cost  principle.  But 
this  could  not  be  prevented  by  any  system  other  than 
Communism,  which,  being  a  denial  of  competition, 
and  consequently  of  Equal  Freedom,  stands  more 
fundamentally  condemned  than  does  this  slight  de- 
viation from  our  guiding  principle.  But  even  this  in- 
equality, like  the  economic  rent  on  land,  would  tend 
to  decrease. 

Of  all  the  thousands  of  men  forced  by  circum- 
stances to  perform  the  commonest  labor,  many  are 
far  better  equipped  mentally  and  physically  for  the 
professions,  and  would  have  made  good  doctors  and 
lawyers  instead  of  inferior  laborers.  On  the  other 
hand,  many  men  of  a  mechanical  turn  of  mind  go  into 


PROFIT.  169 

business  and  become  unsuccessful  merchants  instead 
of  competent  artizans  for  fear  of  losing  social  caste. 
Suppose  Herbert  Spencer's  father  had  lost  what 
money  he  had  during  this  great  philosopher's  infancy, 
where  would  the  Synthetic  Philosophy  be  to-day? 
Mr.  Spencer  would  have  made  a  mighty  poor  hewer 
of  wood  and  drawer  of  water,  and  probably  such  a 
life  would  have  killed  him  long  before  he  reached 
manhood.  May  it  not  do  the  same  with  thousands  of 
others?  The  fact  that  nearly  all  the  great  men  have 
been  children  of  parents  in  comfortable  circumstances 
seems  to  be  in  harmony  with  such  a  conclusion.  And 
the  exceptions  to  this  general  rule  form  almost  con- 
clusive evidence  of  the  truth  of  such  as  assumption. 
I  think  I  may  say,  that  in  every  case  where  the  child 
of  really  poor  parents  has  become  famous,  he  has  re- 
ceived material  assistance  from  those  in  better  cir- 
cumstances. This  shows  that  in  some  cases  at  any 
rate,  there  is  much  genius  among  the  poorer  classes 
if  conditions  are  favorable  to  its  development.  The 
fact  that  at  every  crisis  in  the  world's  history,  men 
seem  to  spring  up  who  are  especially  fitted  for  such 
times,  can  only  be  rationally  explained  on  the  hypoth- 
esis, that  there  is  always  a  large  supply  of  such  men 
awaiting  such  an  opportunity.  Thousands  of  them 
die  in  obscurity  where  one  finds  himself  amid  the 
conditions  which  develop  his  ability.  From  these 
and  similar  facts  we  may  reasonably  expect  the  crop 
of  men  of  great  ability  to  be  quite  large  as  soon  as 
opportunities  are  favorable  for  each  to  develop  his 
best  characteristics. 

Under  free  conditions  there  would  be  nothing  to 
prevent  every  man  from  engaging  in  the  occupation 
for  which  he  was  best  fitted.  So  that,  guided  by  self 
interest,  nearly  everyone  would  sooner  or  later  find 


170  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

himself  engaged  ill  the  most  congenial  occupation. 
This  would  inevitably  result  in  a  great  increase  in 
the  standard  of  ability  in  every  occupation.  Men  who 
are  to-day  considered  as  possessing  extraordinary 
ability,  would  find  themselves  but  little  in  advance  of 
the  rank  and  file  of  men  in  their  vocations.  The  emi- 
nent success  achieved  by  some  men  to-day  is  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  the  right  men  in  the  right 
place.  When  all  artificial  restrictions  are  removed, 
selfishness  will  impel  every  man  to  find  the  right 
place  for  himself.  So,  while  free  competition  may 
not  produce  absolute  equality  of  ability,  it  will  tend 
to  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  inequalities  of  the  wages 
received  by  men  of  different  kinds  of  ability.  Thus 
the  economic  rent  of  intellect,  like  the  economic  rent 
of  land,  would  have  a  perpetual  tendency  to  decrease 
under  freedom,  and  for  the  same  reason,  namely, 
each  individual  would  be  put  to  his  highest  use,  thus 
reducing  the  inequality  between  them. 

All  these  forces,  or  rather,  all  the  manifestations 
of  the  same  force— self  interest— would  be  just  the 
same  regardless  of  the  productive  power  of  the  com- 
munity. Once  establish  free  conditions,  and  the  la- 
borer must  inevitably  reap  the  full  product  of  his 
toil.  The  greater  that  product  is,  the  greater  wrill  be 
labor's  reward.  The  development  of  labor-saving 
machinery,  improved  methods  of  production  and 
everything  that  tends  to  increase  the  total  product  of 
the  community  would  benefit  the  laborer,  either  by 
increasing  his  wages,  decreasing  his  hours  of  labor, 
or  by  a  combination  of  the  two. 

What  the  average  wages  would  be  under  the  cost 
principle,  I  should  be  afraid  to  say.  When  we  con- 
sider that,  at  every  step  in  its  production  and  distri- 
bution, every  article  has  to  pay  rent,  interest  and 


PROFIT.  iyi 

taxes,  we  get  an  idea  of  bow  enormous  the  sum  of 
surplus  value  must  be.  When  we  add  to  this  the 
fact  that  those,  who  to-day  live  off  the  toil  of  others, 
would  have  to  produce  for  themselves,  we  see  that 
the  total  product  would  be  greatly  increased.  And 
when  we  also  take  into  consideration,  that  the  produc- 
tive power  of  those  who  now  labor  would  be  tre- 
mendously increased,  as  each  would  perform  the  labor 
best  adapted  to  his  ability,  and  as  the  occasion  for 
strikes  being  removed,  men  would  not  waste  their 
energies  in  that  way,  some  idea  of  the  stupendous 
possibilities  of  such  a  system  begins  to  dawn  upon 
our  intellects. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


TRANSPORTATION,  ETC. 


It  is  claimed  by  many  that  certain  industries  can- 
not be  made  subject  to  competition,  that  they  are  in 
their  very  nature  monopolies,  and  consequently,  the 
arguments  introduced  in  the  last  chapter  can  in  no 
manner  apply  to  them.  It  is  claimed  that,  in  spite 
of  the  abolition  of  rent  and  interest,  these  indus- 
tries will  yield  a  profit  which  cannot  be  abolished 
except  by  collective  control.  Railroads,  telegraphs, 
telephones,  water-works,  express  companies  and  other 
similar  industries  constitute  this  class  of  aueged 
"natural  monopolies." 

With  brazen  effrontery,  those  who  advocate  State 
ownership  of  these  industries  point  to  the  present 
postal  system  as  an  example  of  the  beneficence  of 
State  interference.  So  reconciled  is  the  average  man 
to  the  existing  way  of  doing  things,  that  he  does  not 
realize  the  evil  of  it,  unless  he  has  special  reason 
to  investigate  it.  This  explains  why  such  impudent 
assertions  about  the  post  office  pass  almost  unchal- 
lenged in  our  midst,  and*  also  constitutes  my  ex- 
cuse for  attacking  that  much  praised  institution  be- 
fore proceeding  further. 


TRANSPORTATION,    ETC.  173 

We  need  not  expect  to  find  either  good  business 
management  or  common  honesty  in  an  institution, 
when  the  head  of  that  institution  obtains  his  position 
by  pure  and  simple  purchase.  The  appointment  of 
John  Wanamaker  as  postmaster  general  should  have 
been  enough  to  arouse  the  most  unsuspicious.  The 
Star  Route  rascalities  seem  to  be  altogether  forgot- 
ten. The  short-comings  of  the  system  are  trans- 
formed into  virtues  in  the  eyes  of  its  worshipers. 
In  order  to  exist  at  all  it  has  to  tax  all  competi- 
tors out  of  the  market.  But  this  tax,  though  especi- 
ally designed  to  prevent  competition,  is  not  always 
sufficient  to  save  it,  so  poor  is  its  service  in  com- 
parison to  that  given  by  private  corporations.  Mr. 
Tucker  tells  us:  "Some  half  dozen  years  ago,*  when 
letter  postage  was  still  three  cents,  Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co.  were  doing  a  large  business  in  carrying  letters 
throughout  the  Pacific  States  and  Territories.  Their 
rate  was  five  cents,  more  than  three  cents  of  which 
they  expended,  as  the  legal  monopoly  required,  in 
purchasing  of  the  United  States  a  stamped  envelope 
in  which  to  carry  the  letter  intrusted  to  their  care. 
That  is  to  say,  on  every  letter  which  they  carried 
they  had  to  pay  a  tax  of  more  than  three  cents.  Ex- 
clusive of  this  tax,  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  got  less  than 
two  cents  for  each  letter  which  they  carried,  while 
the  government  got  three  cents  for  each  letter  which 
it  carried  itself,  and  more  than  three  cents  for  each 
letter  which  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  carried.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  cost  every  individual  five  cents  to  send 
by  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  and  only  three  to  send  by  the 
government.  Moreover  the  area  covered  was  one 
in  which  immensity  of  distance,  sparseness  of  popu- 
lation, and  irregularities  of  surface  made  out-of-the- 


*This  was   written  in  1887. 


174  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

way  points  unusually  difficult  of  access.  Still,  in 
spite  of  all  the  advantages  on  the  side  of  the  gov- 
ernment, its  patronage  steadily  dwindled,  while  that 
of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  as  steadily  grew.  .  .  .  The 
postmaster  general  sent  a  special  commissioner  to  in- 
vestigate the  matter.  He  fulfilled  his  duty  and  re- 
ported to  his  superior  that  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  were 
complying  with  law  in  every  particular,  and  were 
taking  away  the  business  of  the  government  by 
furnishing  a  prompter  and  securer  mail  service,  not 
alone  to  the  principal  points,  but  to  more  points  and 
remoter  points  that  were  included  in  the  govern- 
ment list  of  post  offices."  (Instead  of  a  Book,  p.  121.) 
In  Wichita,  Kansas,  during  the  boom  in  1886, 
the  postal  accommodation  was  very  inadequate.  The 
post  office  was  situated  in  the  rear  of  a  store.  There 
was  no  free  delivery  and  the  number  of  boxes  was 
very  limited.  The  line  of  people  waiting  for  their 
mail  often  used  to  reach  out  onto  the  sidewalk,  and 
sometimes,  half  a  block  along  the  street.  Petition 
after  petition  was  forwarded  to  Washington  but  with- 
out avail.  Finally,  however,  the  requests  were 
heeded.  Better  arrangements  were  made  and  a  free 
delivery  system  was  established— three  months  before 
the  boom  collapsed.  The  express  companies,  mean- 
while, had  enlarged  their  offices  and  staffs  of  clerks 
as  the  business  required  ft.  When  the  conditions 
changed,  they  transferred  their  employes  to  places 
where  their  services  were  needed.  The  same  condi- 
tions exist  now  in  Cripple  Creek,  Colorado.  Owing 
to  the  mining  boom,  the  business  of  this  postoffice 
has  rapidly  increased,  but  the  facilities  are  so  in- 
adequate that  it  is  impossible  to  transact  the  busi- 
ness. One  enterprising  man  has  started  a  delivery 
system  on  his  own  account  and  is  making  big  money 


TRANSPORTATION,    ETC.  175 

at  it.  He  is  now  hiring  others  to  help  him.  How 
long  could  this  last  in  a  business  that  is  subject  to 
competition?  These  are  characteristic  cases.  Pri- 
vate institutions  are  run  for  profit.  If  not  conducted 
on  business  principles,  competition  will  force  them  to 
the  wall.  With  a  governmental  institution  this  is 
different.  It  is  not  subject  to  competition.  It  is 
operated  at  the  people's  expense,  and  due  care  must 
be  exercised  to  prevent  extravagance  in  the  use  of 
the  people's  money!  But  while  that  care  is  being 
exercised,  conditions  change  and  the  machinery  of 
the  institution  is  too  slow  to  adapt  itself  to  them. 
This  is  no  little  detail,  it  is  a  vital  flaw  in  the  sys- 
tem. If  due  care  is  not  exercised,  the  robbery  will 
be  infinitely  worse 'than  at  present;  if  it  is  exercised, 
the  institution  lacks  the  necessary  flexibility  and  is 
unable  to  readily  adapt  itself  to  changed  conditions. 
The  express  companies  will  deliver  a  package  of  pre- 
paid printed  matter  weighing  1 1-2  Ibs.  for  10  cents,  in 
any  part  of  the  United  States.  The  post  office  charges 
12  cents  for  the  same  service.  Furthermore,  the  ex- 
press companies  will  give  a  receipt  for  the  package 
and  pay  damages  if  it  is  lost,  which  the  government 
will  not  do  even  if  the  package  is  registered.  The 
manuscript  of  this  book  will  weigh  between  3  1-2 
and  4  Ibs.  when  it  is  finished— say  3  1-2  Ibs.  To 
send  this  by  mail  would  cost  me  two  cents  per  ounce, 
that  is  $1.12,  with  8  cents  extra  for  registration  makes 
a  total  of  $1.20.  I  can  send  this  package  by  express 
if  it  weighs  less  than  4  Ibs.,  including  full  in- 
surance against  loss,  for  60  cents.  Wells,  Fargo  & 
Co.  have  offered  to  carry  letters  for  one  cent  per 
ounce  if  the  government  will  remove  the  tax.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  government  charges  twice 
as  much  as  the  express  companies  would,  it  lost  in 
1894  over  $9,200,000,  which  sum  the  working  men 


176  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

had  to  pay  in  taxes.  How  is  this  accounted  for? 
Simply  by  the  fact  that  all  governmental  undertak- 
ings are  run  for  boodle  and  not  on  business  principles. 

One  of  the  most  glaring  examples  of  the  bribery 
of  this  institution  is  seen  in  the  regulations  in  regard 
to  second  class  matter.  Why  does  the  government 
charge  me  two  cents  per  ounce  for  my  private  cor- 
respondence? Yes,  more  than  tnis,  for  if  I  write 
ten  letters,  the  total  weight  of  which  is  but  4  ounces, 
and  even  if  I  mail  them  all  at  once,  I  have  to  pay 
twenty  cents  for  them.  But  a  newspaper  corporation 
can  send  its  papers  at  one  cent  per  pound  and  have 
them  all  weighed  in  bulk.  Why  is  this?  Because 
the  government  is  afraid  of  the  press  of  the  country 
and  gives  it  this  bribe,  for  which  we  all  have  to 
pay  indirectly  by  taxes.  Even  this  is  not  the  worst, 
as  it  does  not  accord  this  privilege  to  all  publica- 
tions indiscriminately,  but  by  offering  it  to  one  jour- 
nal and  denying  it  to  another,  the  party  in  power  is 
often  able  to  crush  what  it  considers  objectionable 
sheets. 

The  powers  of  the  postmaster  general  are  greater 
even  than  this.  Not  only  can  he  exclude  papers  from 
transmission  under  the  second  class  rates,  he  can 
even  exclude  them  from  the  mails  altogether.  If  the 
matter  treated  of  in  papers  is  antagonistic  to  popular 
prejudice  in  regard  to  sexual  affairs,  he  can  even 
cause  the  person  mailing  the  papers  to  be  tried 
on  a  criminal  charge.  By  these  means  a  regular  cen- 
sorship of  the  press  is  instituted,  for  all  other  insti- 
tutions, which  would  be  willing  to  carry  the  mails 
without  asking  any  questions,  are  taxed  out  of  the 
field.  This  is  the  way  the  post  office  is  "collectively 
owned  by  the  people!"  It  is  run  by  a  set  of  disrepu- 
table politicians  in  the  interest  of  big  newspaper 
corporations,  and  labor  has  to  foot  the  bill. 


TRANSPORTATION,    ETC.  177 

But,  it  is  argued,  civil  service  reform  will  ineud 
all  this.  I  deny  this  emphatically.  In  England  civil 
service  reform  principles  are  in  operation  in  the  post 
office,  and  yet  the  rates  there  are  about  the  same  as 
here.  The  service  to  the  public  is  no  better,  but  con- 
dition of  the  employes  is  worse.  About  a  year  ago 
"The  New  York  Sun"  published  the  following:  "The 
regulations  of  the  British  post  office  require  that 
every  unsound  tooth  shall  be  taken  out  of  a  man's 
head  before  he  can  be  employed.  An  unfortunate 
girl,  who  was  recently  examined  for  promotion,  had 
fourteen  teeth  taken  out  at  one  sitting  by  order  of 
the  official  dentist,  who  explained  that  'we  can't 
have  girls  laid  up  with  toothache.'  "  What  if  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Co.  treated  its  employes  in 
the  same  way?  Oh,  yes!  Civil  service  reform  is  a 
great  thing,  I  assure  you.  Its  whole  basis  is  a  system 
of  competitive  examinations,  one  of  the  greatest  ab- 
surdities of  modern  times,  well  worthy  of  the  Chinese 
bureaucracy  in  which  it  originated.  A  knowledge 
of  geometry  is  no  criterion  of  executive  ability,  nor 
is  a  smattering  of  natural  science,  diluted  with  Chris- 
tianity, essential  to  a  good  letter  carrier.  Who  ever 
heard  of  civil  service  reform  in  a  private  enterprise? 
There  is  no  need  of  it.  The  managers  know  that  it 
is  to  their  interests  to  promote  their  most  competent 
employes,  and  they  act  accordingly.  But  this  is  not 
so  with  any  governmental  undertaking.  There,  either 
political  influence  or  ability  to  pass  some  absurd 
examination,  are  the  tests  of  merit.  Our  experience 
with  the  post  office  is  not  such  as  to  warrant  us  in 
experimenting  any  more  in  this  line. 

Apart  from  the  post  office,  nearly  all  the  admin- 
istrative departments,  of  the  government  are  vested 
in  municipal  corporations.  In  fact,  municipal  gov- 


178  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

ernments  are  almost  purely  administrative.  It  would 
be  through  their  agency  that  most  of  these  industries 
would  be  operated  were  they  placed  under  State 
control.  Yet  Bryce  tells  us:  "There  is  no  denying 
that  the  government  of  cities  is  the  one  conspicuous 
failure  of  the  United  States."  (American  Common- 
wealth, v.  1,  p.  608.)  Are  we  to  entrust  to  these 
monumental  failures  more  than  they  already  mis- 
manage? The  present  condition  of  affairs  is  bad 
enough.  To  increase  the  powers  of  the  State  will 
only  make  it  worse.  The  remedy  must  be  sought  in 
the  opposite  direction.  Much  of  the  evil  resulting 
from  these  industries  is  due  to  the  action  of  munici- 
pal and  State  governments,  in  granting  a  franchise 
to  one  company  and  denying  it  to  all  competitors. 

The  history  of  the  water  works  of  Denver  con- 
tains a  very  good  lesson.  When  the  Denver  Water 
Company  started  in  business,  it  charged  $7.00  per 
season  of  six  months  for  supplying  water  to  a  seven 
or  eight  room-house  (without  bath).  The  water  was 
taken  out  of  the  Platte  river,  just  above  the  city,  and 
was  of  very  poor  quality.  The  machinery  used  was 
not  equal  to  the  demand  made  upon  it,  and,  in  short, 
the  whole  system  was  unsatisfactory.  Fortunately 
the  city  is  so  situated  that  excellent  water  can  be 
struck  in  any  locality  at  a  depin  of  less  than  one 
hundred  feet.  Taking  advantage  of  this  fact,  the 
owrners  of  large  buildings  sank  artesian  wells.  Owing 
to  lack  of  patronage,  the  Denver  Water  Company 
failed,  and  the  business  was  purchased  by  the  Ameri- 
can Water  Company.  This  new  company  immedi- 
ately cut  prices  twenty  per  cent.,  put  in  new  filters 
and  better  machinery,  and  commenced  work  to  take 
water  from  Cherry  creek,  wliere  a  better  quality 
could  be  obtained.  (This  last  enterprise  was  aban- 


TRANSPORTATION,    ETC.  J79 

doned,  however,  owing  to  litigation.)  In  about  1890, 
after  a  long  fight  with  the  city,  during  which  that 
protector  of  monopolies  tried  to  tear  up  its  pipes, 
a  new  company  managed  to  secure  a  franchise  and 
started  a  lively  competition.  It  took  its  water  from 
the  foot  hills,  conducted  it  to  the  city  through  pipes, 
and  secured  sufficient  force  from  gravitation  to  ren- 
der pumping  engines  unnecessary.  They  relied  upon 
the  superior  quality  of  their  water  to  defeat  the 
American  Company.  This  resulted  in  the  latter  com- 
pany reducing  their  rates  to  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  old 
schedule,  instead  of  eighty  per  cent.  The  cut  was 
met  by  the  new  concern,  which  afterwards  gave  their 
water  free  to  whoever  would  connect  with  their  main. 
The  American  Water  Company  then  cut  their  last  rate 
fifty  per  cent,  (making  it  only  twenty-five  per  cent, 
of  the  original  rate).  This  was  the  condition  for  over 
a  year;  one  company  giving  water  free,  the  other 
charging  only  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  their  original 
rate.  The  American  Company  subsequently  failed 
and  went  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver.  Then  the  two 
companies  consolidated  and  the  rates  were  soon  in- 
creased. One  safeguard  still  remains— the  possibility 
of  digging  wells.  But  even  this  is  in  danger  of  being 
removed  by  the  monopoly-protecting  State,  for  a  city 
ordinance  is  on  the  records  which  empowers  the 
Health  Department  to  close  up  wells  within  the  city 
limits.  While  the  outcome  of  this  is  what  might  be 
expected  under  the  present  financial  system,  yet  the 
whole  business  shows  us  what  may  be  done  with 
"natural  monopolies"  when  a  little  competition  is 
permitted,  even  under  the  present  system. 

In  this  same  city  of  Denver,  two  distinct  street 
ear  companies  are  competing  with  each  other.     While 


ISO  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

this  competition  has  not  resulted  in  any  reduction 
of  fares,  it  has  given  the  public  better  accommoda- 
tion. 

If  such  competition  is  possible,  even  in  rare  in- 
stances, under  present  financial  conditions,  it  cannot 
be  said  that  these  industries  are  natural  monopolies. 
When  credit  is  freed  from  the  throttling  grasp  of 
government,  when  land  is  open  to  the  producers  of 
wealth,  when  the  protective  tariff  is  abolished,  and 
patents  and  copyrights  are  things  of  the  past,  then 
may  we  look  up  and  lift  up  our  heads,  for  our  re- 
demption draweth  nigh,  even  from  the  oppression  of 
"natural  monopolies." 

Given  free  land  and  free  money,  and  how  long 
do  you  suppose  the  inhabitants  of  any  town  would 
pay  exorbitant  rates  for  transportation?  If  the  rail- 
roads did  not  reduce  their  prices  to  cost,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  that  town  would  soon  organize  a  competing 
company  and  run  the  "monopolist"  out  of  the  busi- 
ness. Nor  would  it  be  necessary,  in  most  cases,  to 
build  a  competing  road,  the  very  threat  of  doing  so 
would  usually  be  enough. 

Difficulties  will  no  doubt  arise  from  time  to  time. 
But  under  free  conditions  we  will  ever  be  gaining 
experience,  which  will  enable  us  to  meet  them.  This 
experience  would  be  impossible  under  our  present  re- 
stricted conditions.  Many  failures  may  be  made,  but 
even  they  can  hardly  be  worse  than  our  present  sys- 
tem. There  being  no  rigid  system  of  State  control 
to  prevent  the  immediate  application  of  a  remedy  to 
those  failures,  they  will  but  prove  stepping-stones  to 
success.  For  success  can  only  be  achieved  by  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest. 

The  objections  above  set  forth  to  State  control, 
do  not,  of  course,  apply  to  the  voluntary  association 


TRANSPORTATION,    ETC.  l8l 

of  any  number  of  individuals.  This  voluntary  co- 
operation will  probably  play  an  important  part  in  the 
solution  of  these  problems.  In  Denver  in  1893— and 
no  doubt  similar  conditions  have  been  experienced 
in  other  places  at  various  times— the  City  govern- 
ment had  squandered  all  the  money  it  had  collected 
and  had  nothing  left  to  pay  for  street  cleaning.  What 
was  the  result?  The  business  men  living  in  each 
block  subscribed  to  have  the  streets  cleaned.  If  the 
men  they  employed  did  not  perform  the  work  to 
their  satisfaction,  they  got  others  who  did.  Here 
is  another  instance  of  individual  initiative  stepping 
to  the  front  and  performing  "the  functions  of  the 
State"  after  the  decrepit  machinery  of  that  institu- 
tion had  broken  down.  To  be  sure,  in  some  cases, 
a  man  would  not  co-operate  with  others,  and  they 
had  to  bear  his  share  between  them,  or  let  the  street 
go  dirty.  Naturally  they  chose  the  former  course. 
This  may  appear  to  be  a  little  unfair,  and  so  it  was. 
But  not  half  as  unfair  as  it  was  for  the  City  to  tax 
them  all  to  clean  the  streets,  and  then  not  do  it. 
Besides,  in  the  former  case  they  were  not  compelled 
to  pay  unless  they  wished  to  do  so,  but  in  the  latter 
case  they  had  no  choice  in  the  matter  whatsoever. 

There  is  still  another  factor  which  must  not  be 
overlooked;  that  is  the  development  of  machinery. 
Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  conducting  steam  any  great 
distance,  this  power  must  be  used  where  it  is  gen- 
erated or  great  loss  results.  And,  as  small  quanti- 
ties cannot  be  generated  economically,  the  introduc- 
tion of  steam  necessitated  large  factories.  But  elec- 
tricity is  of  a  different  character.  Though,  like  steam, 
it  can  be  generated  more  economically  in  large  quan- 
tities, yet,  unlike  steam,  it  can  easily  be  transmitted 
over  comparatively  long  distances  with  but  little  loss 


l82  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

of  power.  This  enables  many  small  manufacturers 
to  gain  the  advantage  of  a  motive  power  to  be  used 
in  their  business,  and  makes  it  possible  for  them  to 
compete  with  larger  institutions.  While  steam  has 
had  a  tendency  to  concentrate  wealth,  electricity  may 
tend  to  decentralize  it.  This  same  tendency  may  be 
found  in  a  large  number  of  modern  inventions.  For 
example,  the  bicycle  is  already  seriously  affecting  the 
profit  of  street  car  companies.  When  the  tariff  on 
them  is  removed,  and  the  monopolies  of  land  and 
money  are  abolished,  the  price  of  bicycles  will  prob- 
ably be  but  a  small  portion  of  that  demanded  to-day. 
This  will  result  in  a  very  great  increase  in  their  use. 
Several  different  motor-cycles,  or  horseless  carriages, 
propelled  by  oil,  compressed  air,  electricity,  etc.,  and 
capable  of  traveling  at  the  rate  of  20  or  30  miles 
per  hour,  are  now  on  the  market.  These  will  still 
further  affect  the  street  cars,  when  they  can  be  made 
cheaply  enough  to  be  within  the  reach  of  men  in 
ordinary  circumstances.  Recent  experiments  with 
flying  machines  have  also  met  with  much  success, 
and  it  is  no  longer  doubted  that  aerial  navigation  will 
be  an  accomplished  fact  early  in  the  next  century. 
If  this  is  so,  it  will  materially  increase  the  possibility 
of  competition  in  transportation.  Many  large  build- 
ings are  now  supplied  with  electrical  plants,  which 
they  use  for  lighting  and  other  purposes.  In  some 
instances,  as  above  mentioned,  such  buildings  even 
supply  themselves  with  water.  It  is  by  no  means 
impossible,  that  before  State  ownership  of  railroads, 
street  cars,  gas  and  water  works,  etc.,  becomes  pos- 
sible, there  will  be  no  railroads,  street  cars,  etc.,  for 
the  State  to  own. 

A  large  number  of  men  demand  State  ownership 
of  these  industries,  as  a  means  of  immediate  relief 


TRANSPORTATION,    ETC.  183 

from  some  of  the  social  evils  which  beset  us,  and  as 
a  stepping-stone  to  something  better.  These  men  are, 
as  a  rule,  fully  convinced:  of  the  truth  of  the  Social- 
istic theory  of  surplus  value.  They  realize  that  as 
long  as  rent  and  interest  remain  unmolested,  nothing 
can  be  of  any  but  the  most  trifling  importance.  They 
know  also  that,  to-day  at  any  rate,  no  matter  what 
they  may  hope  for  in  the  future,  politicians  are 
strictly  dishonest,  mere  hirelings  of  capital  and 
"master  workmen"  of  the  brotherhood  of  thieves. 
What  can  they  expect  from  handing  over  "natural 
monopolies"  to  the  mercy  of  such  an  outfit?  The 
business  will  assuredly  be  mismanaged,  and  the  loss 
made  up  by  taxes  which  must  in  the  ultimate  be  paid 
by  labor,  while  any  advantage  that  may  possibly 
be  derived  will  just  as  surely  be  reaped  by  the  land- 
lord and  money-lender.  Even  supposing  that  the  postal 
system  is  all  that  the  State  Socialists  claim  for  it. 
they  cannot  show  that  it  has  affected  surplus  value 
in  the  slightest,  except  as  affording  an  opportunity 
for  fat  contracts  to  railroad  corporations.  For  what 
more  may  we  hope  from  similar  "reforms?" 

Spencer  shows  us  what  the  result  of  such  exten- 
sion of  State  functions  must  be.  He  sums  up  his 
case  in  these  words:  "The  extent  to  which  an  or- 
ganization resists  re-organization,  we  shall  not  fully 
appreciate  until  we  observe  that  resistance  increases 
in  a  compound  progression.  For  while  each  new  part 
is  an  additional  obstacle  to  change,  the  formation  of 
it  involves  a  deduction  from  the  forces  causing 
change.  ...  So  that,  inevitably,  each  further 
growth  of  the  instrumentalities  which  control,  or  ad- 
minister, or  inspect,  or  in  any  wray  direct  social 
forces,  increases  the  impediment  to  future  modifica- 


184  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

tions,  both  positively  by  strengthening  that  which 
has  to  be  modified,  and  negatively  by  weakening 
the  remainder;  until  at  length  the  rigidity  becomes 
so  great  that  change  is  impossible  and  the  type  be- 
comes fixed."  (Principles  of  Sociology,  v.  2,  pp. 
255-256.) 

Let  it  further  be  noted  that  that  which  is  thus 
strengthened  is  not  the  ideal  of  the  State  Socialist, 
but  the  head  centre  of  the  present  iniquitous  system. 
Thus  the  Opportunist  and  all  his  ilk  are  not  only  hin- 
dering the  Anarchists  from  the  attainment  of  their 
ends,  but  are  handicapping  State  Socialists  and  other 
reformers  in  a  similar  manner. 

These  "steps  forward"  can  do  no  possible  good  to 
labor,  and  only  result  in  strengthening  the  present 
State,  the  arch  enemy  of  all  reform,  and  so  we  fight 
them  to  the  last. 

Others,  again,  urge  State  ownership  as  a  means 
of  preventing  strikes.  But  these  gentlemen  seem  to  be 
ignorant  of  the  fact  that  in  July,  1890,  the  postmen 
of  London  went  on  strike.  It  was  not  for  any  paltry 
raise  of  wages,  either,  but  for  the  right  to  organize. 
The  secretary  of  the  Postmen's  Union  gives  his  side 
of  the  story  in  "The  Nineteenth  Century"  for  July, 
1890.  He  says:  "In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Raikes  (then 
postmaster  general)  the  postmen  may  have  a  union 
on  condition  that  its  secretary  is  appointed  by  the  de- 
partment, that  it  holds  no  meetings,  that  it  makes 
no  appeal  to  the  public,  and  that  it  makes  no  attempt 
to  better  the  condition  of  its  members."  The  atti- 
tude assumed  by  Col.  Waring,  who  at  present  has 
control  of  the  street  cleaning  department  in  New 
York,  seems  to  be  modeled  on  the  same  plan,  if  the 
current  reports  of  his  utterances  are  correct.  What 


TRANSPORTATION,  ETC.  185 

would  our  labor  union  friends  say  if  Pullman  or  Car- 
negie wanted  to  appoint  the  secretaries  of  their  em- 
ployes' unions? 

During  the  same  month  (July,  1890,)  the  policemen 
at  the  Bow  Street  police  station  and  the  Grenadier 
Guards,  in  London,  and  the  teamsters  in  the  street 
cleaning  department,  in  *  New  York,  also  went  on 
strike;  but  in  each  case,  the  "disturbance"  was 
quelled  in  a  few  days,  and  any  organization  of  the 
men  nipped  in  the  bud.  Oh,  yes,  State  ownership 
will  certainly  prevent  strikes!  The  workers  then 
won't  have  even  that  chance,  poor  as  it  is,  of  better- 
ing their  conditions.  See  how  the  State  ownership 
of  the  postoffice  offered  an  excuse  for  calling  out  the 
Federal  troops  to  suppress  the  A.  R.  U.  strike  in 
1894.  Will  the  wage  earners  never  learn  anything 
from  experience?  Surely  the  spoils  system  is  elab- 
orate enough  already,  without  any  further  extension 
of  its  tyranny! 

Once  settle  the  land  and  money  questions,  and  all 
these  minor  problems  will  adjust  themselves.  Until 
these  two  monopolies  are  abolished,  all  tinkering 
with  these  questions  can  be  of  little  avail  and  may 
result  in  grievous  and  permanent  harm. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


METHODS. 


Many  and  various  as  are  the  different  ideas  in  re- 
gard to  what  are  the  best  social  conditions,  the 
opinions  held  concerning  the  best  methods  of  attain- 
ing the  desired  end,  are  no  less  so.  That  different 
conditions  may  be  brought  about  by  different  means 
is  to  be  expected,  but  that  so  many  entirely  different 
methods  are  proposed  as  likely  to  produce  the  same 
results,  is  indicative  of  the  loose  thinking  that  is 
prevalent  upon  all  subjects. 

A  correct  idea  of  what  we  wish  to  attain  is  es- 
sential before  we  are  capable  of  discussing  how  we 
can  best  attain  it.  Usually  a  thorough  understand- 
ing of  the  first  problem  is  a  sure  guide  to  the  solu- 
tion of  the  second.  Having  seen  that  the  abolition 
of  the  State  is  necessary  to  progress,  and  that  private 
enterprise  is  perfectly  capable  of  performing  the  du- 
ties for  which  the  State  is  said  to  be  necessary,  it 
is  now  in  order  to  discuss  how  this  end  can  be 
achieved.  One  thing  should  be  borne  in  mind  from 
the  start.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  State  is  essen- 
tially an  invasive  institution.  Since  the  person  of  the 
invader  is  not  sacred,  there  is  no  ethical  reason  why 


METHODS.  187 

we  may  not  use  any  means  in  our  power  to  achieve 
the  result  we  desire.  The  State  is  founded  in  force. 
Therefore,  there  is  no  good  reason  why  it  should  not 
be  abolished  by  force  if  necessary.  The  whole  field 
is  open  to  us.  All  we  are  bound  to  consider  is,  which 
method  will  be  most  likely  to  meet  with  success. 

Where  is  the  State?  What  is  it?  How  are  we  to 
attack  it?  We  see  its  agents  around  us  every  day. 
They  are  not  the  State  and  do  not  pretend  to  be. 
Where  is  the  State  from  which  these  agents  derive 
their  authority?  It  only  exists  in  men's  minds.  Karl 
Marx  says:  "One  man  is  king  only  because  other 
men  stand  in  the  relation  of  subjects  to  him.  They, 
on  the  contrary,  imagine  that  they  are  subjects  be- 
cause he  is  king."  The  officers  of  the  State  derive 
their  authority  simply  and  solely  from  the  submission 
of  its  citizens.  When  it  is  said  that  the  State  is  the 
main  cause  of  our  social  evils,  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  the  State  is  but  a  crude  expression  of 
the  average  intelligence  of  the  community.  Every 
law  is  practically  inoperative  that  is  very  different 
from  the  general  consensus  of  opinion  in  the  com- 
munity. The  position  of  the  State  seldom  exactly 
coincides  with  public  opinion  in  regard  to  newr  mea- 
sures, because  it  moves  much  slower  than  individu- 
als. But  it  follows  slowly  in  the  wake  of  new  ideas, 
and  when  it  lags  much  behind  its  power  is  weak- 
ened. These  facts  are  seen  very  plainly  in  prohibi- 
tion States.  They  would  be  apparent  to  everyone, 
were  it  not  for  the  superstition  that  we  must  obey 
the  law  because  it  is  the  law.  It  is  said  that  our 
representatives  are  our  servants.  These  servants 
make  laws  which  we  consider  bad,  yet,  because  they 
are  our  servants,  we  must  obey  the  laws  they  make! 
The  State  is  king  only  because  we  are  fools  enough 


l88  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

to  stand  in  the  relation  of  subjects  to  it.  When  we 
cease  to  stand  in  the  relation  of  subjects  to  it,  it 
will  cease  to  be  king.  So  that,  in  order  to  abolish 
the  State,  it  is  necessary  to  change  people's  ideas 
in  regard  to  it.  This  means  a  long  campaign  of  edu- 
cation. 

These  means  are  too  slow  to  suit  many  who  want 
to  inaugurate  a  new  social  system  at  once.  They 
cannot  hasten  matters  a  bit  too  much  to  suit  me.  The 
sooner  the  "new  order"  comes,  the  better  1  shall  like 
it.  But  often  "the  shortest  cut  home  is  the  longest 
way  round."  Ill-advised  haste  is  disastrous.  By  all 
means  let  us  hasten  the  progress  of  the  race,  but 
let  us  also  use  care  lest  our  zeal  upset  our  reason  and 
cause  us  to  hinder,  instead  of  help,  the  re-adjust- 
ment of  social  forces. 

A  favorite  method  of  reform,  with  those  wrhose 
impatience  with  the  present  system  is  very  great,  is 
a  violent  revolution.  If  the  State  is  purely  an  idea, 
how  can  we  attack  it  with  force?  True,  its  agents 
use  force  to  compel  us  to  support  it,  and  we  might 
oppose  them  with  force,  but  unfortunately  we  are 
not  yet  strong  enough.  As  far  as  morality  is  con- 
cerned, it  is,  of  course,  justifiable  to  meet  force  by 
force.  But,  as  an  Egoist,  the  only  morality  I  recog- 
nize is  the  highest  expediency.  So  it  would  be  highly 
immoral  to  attempt  a  revolution  which  would  be  fore- 
doomed to  failure.  Wh'en  a  large  minority  have  a 
clear  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  State  and  an  earnest 
desire  to  abolish  it,  such  a  revolution  might  be  suc- 
cessful. But  then  it  would  be  unnecessary,  for 
people  having  refused  to  stand  in  the  relation  of  sub- 
jects to  it,  the  State  would  be  no  longer  king.  Till 
then  it  must  inevitably  be  a  fearful  failure,  no  matter 
which  side  was  actually  successful  in  the  battles. 


METHODS.  189 

Under  the  existing  state  of  affairs,  when  even 
those  who  are  considered  leaders  in  the  reform  move- 
ment have  but  a  very  indefinite  idea  of  what  they 
really  want,  such  an  outbreak  can  bring  no  good.  At 
best  it  would  be  a  tight  between  ignorance  and  cupid- 
ity, on  the  one  hand,  and  stupidity  and  rage  on  the 
other.  What  good  can  we  expect  from  a  conflict  be- 
tween such  forces? 

Spencer  has  pointed  out  how  any  increase  in  mili- 
tary activities  invariably  produces  an  increase  in 
the  powers  of  the  governing  classes,  supported  as  they 
are  by  the  blind  patriotism  of  those  who  fought  and 
bled  for  their  country.  With  the  example  of  the  G. 
A.  R.  as  a  result  of  the  late  civil  war  before  our  eyes, 
it  seems  hardly  necessary  to  emphasize  this  point.  If 
such  an  uprising  were  successful,  it  would  mean  the 
creation  of  a  new  race  of  revolutionary  fathers, 
whose  power  would  dominate  all  the  interest  of  the 
community.  A  system  of  State  Socialism  would  be 
inaugurated  under  the  leadership  of  these  quondam 
military  officers— men  accustomed  to  implicit  obedi- 
ence and  who  expect  their  words  to  be  obeyed  as  law. 
They  would  ever  be  ready  to  enforce  their  com- 
mands at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  and  to  check  all 
murmurs  of  discontent  with  powder  and  shot. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  plutocrats  came  out 
victorious,  it  would  establish  the  system  of  modern 
capitalism  more  firmly  than  ever.  It  would  give  the 
powers  that  be  an  excuse  for  extreme  vigilance  in 
the  suppression  of  discontent,  and  add  to  their  present 
arrogance  the  consciousness  of  having  successfully 
conquered  all  opposition. 

In  any  event  such  an  appeal  to  force  must  prove 
detrimental.  It  would  stir  up  class  hatred  to  an 
enormous  extent  and  so  hinder,  if  not  altogether  pre- 


190  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

vent,  all  rational  consideration  of  social  problems. 
It  would  hand  the  government  over  to  the  military 
classes,  as  no  man  who  could  not  show  a  good  "war 
record"  would  have  any  chance  of  election.  Add  to 
all  this  an  increase  of  sickening  patriotism  and  glori- 
fication of  "the  men  who  saved  the  Union,"  and  we  get 
some  idea  of  the  national  degradation  which  would 
result  from  such  a  civil  war. 

Acts  of  terrorism,  such  as  bomb-throwing,  etc., 
stand  condemned  by  the  same  line  of  reasoning. 
Every  such  manifestation  causes  a  reaction  in  favor 
of  more  stringent  police  regulation.  This  effect  was 
very  noticeable  after  the  dynamite  explosions  in 
Europe  during  1893-'94.  They  resulted  in  stricter 
laws  the  world  over.  Reactionary  "anti- Anarchist 
bills,"  limiting  freedom  of  speech  and  giving  more 
absolute  powers  to  the  upholders  of  the  present  con- 
dition of  affairs,  were  passed  in  almost  every  coun- 
try in  the  world. 

These  methods  can  only  be  justified  in  extremely 
exceptional  cases.  A  revolution  may  be  of  advantage 
if  the  people  demand  an  extension  of  their  liberties 
and  really  know  what  they  want,  while  the  govern- 
ing classes  insist  upon  restraining  their  activities. 
But  under  such  conditions,  force  is  used  as  a  de- 
fensive weapon  only.  Even  then  it  would  be  well 
to  postpone  the  actual  conflict  till  success  was  as- 
sured. So  with  terrorism.  It  is  only  when  all  other 
means  of  expression  are  denied  that  bomb-throwers 
can  hope  to  do  any  good.  If  public  meetings  are 
prohibited,  if  all  freedom  of  speech  is  restrained  and 
the  conditions  can  hardly  be  made  worse,  then  terror- 
ism may  become  useful  as  the  only  means  of  propa- 
ganda that  is  possible. 


METHODS.  191 

Political  methods  must  be  condemned  without 
even  these  qualifications.  The  ballot  is  only  a  bullet 
in  another  form.  An  appeal  to  the  majority  is  an 
appeal  to  brute  force.  It  is  assumed  that,  since  all 
men  are  on  the  average  equally  able  to  carry  a  mus- 
ket, the  side  which  has  the  largest  number  of  adher- 
ents would  probably  conquer  in  case  of  war.  So,  in- 
stead of  actually  fighting  over  questions,  it  is  more 
economical  to  count  noses  and  see  which  side  would 
probably  win.  The  political  method  is  a  form  of  revo- 
lution, and  most  of  the  arguments  directed  against 
the  latter  are  valid  when  applied  to  the  former.  The 
result  shown  at  the  polls  indicates  a  certain  stage  of 
mental  development  in  the  community.  As  that  men- 
tal development  is  changed,  the  political  manifesta- 
tions of  it  change  also.  So  we  are  brought  back  to 
the  original  starting  point.  If  we  wish  to  effect  the 
abolition  of  the  State  through  politics,  we  must 
first  teach  people  how  we  can  get  along  without  it. 
When  that  is  done,  no  political  action  will  be  neces- 
sary. The  people  will  have  outgrown  the  State  and 
will  no  longer  submit  to  its  tyranny.  It  may  still  exist 
and  pass  laws,  but  people  will  no  longer  obey  them, 
for  its  power  over  them  will  be  broken.  Political  ac- 
tion can  never  be  successful  until  it  is  unnecessary. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  more  practical  side  of  the 
question.  It  sometimes  seems  that  some  small  ad- 
vantage might  be  gained  by  political  action.  Some 
of  "the  very  elect"  were  deceived  by  the  promise  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  1892  to  repeal  the  ten  per 
cent,  tax  on  the  issue  of  bank  notes.  How  badly  they 
were  duped  became  apparent  when  the  repeal  bill 
was  introduced.  It  was  hardly  discussed  at  all,  and 
was  practically  killed  in  committee.  Its  defeat  was 
largely  due  to  the  action  of  Tom  L.  Johnson— a  man, 


192  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

by  the  way,  who  claims  to  be  a  Single  Taxer,  and  is 
thereby  pledged  to  the  repeal  of  all  taxes  except 
that  on  land  values — a  Free  Trader  who  believes  in 
removing  the  tariff  restrictions  of  trade  between  in- 
dividuals of  different  countries,  while  supporting  a  far 
greater  restriction  of  trade  between  all  individuals, 
whether  of  the  same  or  of  different  countries. 

Does  the  history  of  politics  teach  us  nothing? 
What  have  we  ever  gained  by  such  means?  The 
Republican  party  has  robbeu  us  by  taxes.  It  has 
robbed  us  still  worse  by  its  financial  legislation,  its 
national  bank  laws  and  its  depreciated  greenbacks. 
It  has  given  our  lands  to  its  servants  and  sold  our 
birthright  to  corporations.  Yet  this  was  the  reform 
party  of  half  a  century  ago.  As  soon  as  it  gained 
power,  it  kicked  the  men — and  deservedly,  too — who 
were  fools  enough  to  support  it.  Nor  is  the  record  of 
the  Democratic  party — which  but  a  few  years  since 
claimed  to  be  the  only  true  reform  party  in  the  coun- 
try— one  whit  better.  For  two  years  it  had  full  con- 
trol of  every  branch  of  the  Federal  government,  and 
what  did  it  do?  It  violated  every  pledge  made  be- 
fore gaining  power.  It  turned  its  back  on  those  it 
promised  to  help.  It  originated  a  new  weapon  of 
tyranny — government  by  injunction.  And  it  crushed 
the  demands  of  labor  beneath  the  heels  of  the  "Com- 
munism of  Pelf."  In  despair  we  turn  to  the  People's 
Party,  and  what  do  we  find?  Not  quite  so  much 
corruption,  to  be  sure,  because  it  has  not  yet  had 
the  chance,  but  from  the  samples  it  has  already 
given  it  has  proved  itself  a  very  apt  pupil.  Should 
it  ever  gain  control  of  Federal  affairs,  there  is  every 
indication  that  it  will  follow  the  examples  of  its  pre- 
decessors. 


METHODS.  193 

As  soon  as  a  new  party  springs  up  and  begins 
to  show  signs  of  success,  a  lot  of  political  tramps 
are  immediately  attracted  to  its  ranks.  These  men 
possess  a  certain  amount  of  influence.  They  are 
trained  politicians,  well  versed  in  the  art  of  pack- 
ing conventions  and  proficient  at  counting  the  ballots. 
When  they  come  to  the  new  party  with  crocodile  tears 
of  repentance  coursing  down  their  cheeks,  it  is  too 
weak  to  refuse  their  aid.  It  opens  its-  arms  and 
kissing  away  their  repentant  tears,  places  them  in  the 
front  rank  where  glory  awaits  them.  The  result 
of  this  is  a  large  gain  in  votes  and  sometimes  success 
at  the  polls.  But  this  victory  is  only  gained  at  the 
expense  of  principle,  and  the  last  state  of  that  party 
is  worse  than  the  first. 

In  order  to  show  how  far  this  is  true  of  the 
People's  Party,  I  quote  the  following  from  a  Populist 
organ  of  national  reputation:  "We  all  know  that 
shameful  bribery  was  practiced  by  the  sugar  trust 
last  year— Senator  Hunton  declared  that  he  had  $75,- 
000  offered  for  his  vote,  and  others  $15,000.  Even 
Populist  members  are  accused  of  standing  in  with 
the  rest.  On  the  sugar  duty  question  it  is  well  known 
that  Kyle,  of  South  Dakota,  Allen,  of  Nebraska,  and 
Peffer,  all  voted  to  continue  the  Sugar  Trust's  li- 
cense to  rob  the  people  who  use  sugar.  Senator 
Peffer,  who  is  looked  up  to  as  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Populist  party,  is  accused  by  the  'Star  and  Kan- 
san'  of  having  accepted  a  good  position  for  his  son 
from  the  Sugar  Trust  last  winter."  And  in  a  foot- 
note the  author  adds:  "No  man  was  more  trusted 
among  Californian  Populists  than  Marion  Cannon, 
President  of  the  Farmers'  Alliance,  and  yet  as  soon 
as  he  got  to  Washington  he  earned  the  execrations 
of  his  supporters  by  voting  to  reduce  the  people's 


194  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

money  supply— the  Sherman  repeal  bill."  (F.  A.  Bin- 
ney,  Abolish  Money,  in  Twentieth  Century,  4th 
April,  1895.)  Defeat,  crushing  defeat,  is  all  that  can 
purge  a  party  of  such  political  parasites. 

This  is  ever  the  result  of  political  action.  As  long 
as  the  movement  is  unsuccessful,  the  energy  expended 
is  wasted,  and  success  can  only  be  purchased  at  the 
expense  of  principle  and  reform. 

Any  one  who  has  had  any  experience  in  practical 
politics  must  know  how  hopeless  it  is  to  attempt  to 
effect  any  reform — especially  any  reform  in  the  direc- 
tion of  freedom — by  that  means.  Platforms  are 
adopted  to  get  elected  on,  not  to  be  carried  out  in 
legislation.  The  real  position  of  a  party  depends,  not 
upon  the  justness  or  unjustness  of  measures,  but  upon 
the  probabilities  of  re-election.  Scheming  and  "diplo- 
macy" are  the  methods  of  the  candidates  for  public 
office.  Reasoning  and  honest  conviction  do  not  con- 
cern them  in  the  least. 

The  whole  political  machine  is  a  very  complex 
affair.  Wheels  within  wheels  have  to  be  kept  in 
motion,  secret  orders  have  to  be  manipulated,  com- 
mittees have  to  be  worked  and  a  thousand  and  one 
details  looked  after  if  any  measure  of  success  is  to 
be  gained.  At  present  there  are  the  A.  P.  A.,  the 
Women's  A.  P.  A.,  the  P.  O.  S.  of  A.,  the  Junior 
Order  of  American  Mechanics,  the  Loyal  Legion,  the 
Veteran  Legion,  the  Sons  of  Veterans,  the  G.  A.  R. 
and  other  "patriotic"  orders,  besides  a  host  of  others, 
which  have  to  be  controlled  by  the  politician.  All 
political  parties  have  to  truckle  to  these  orders  or  fail. 
How  can  we  expect  any  progress  towards  freedom 
from  such  a  source. 

These  facts  give  us  a  glimpse  of  the  intricacies 
of  politics.  How  can  the  reformer  or  business  man 


METHODS.  195 

who  has  to  earn  his  living  hope  to  cope  with  the 
professional  politician  while  this  is  the  case?  The 
politician  is  in  possession  of  the  field.  He  is  able 
to  devote  his  whole  time  to  studying  the  situation 
and  to  heading  off  any  move  to  oust  him.  What  can 
you  do  about  it?  You  can  give  the  matter  a  little 
attention  after  business  hours  and  think  you  grasp 
the  situation.  You  can  vote  once  a  year  or  so 
for  a  different  set  of  thieves.  If  you  are  very  en- 
terprising you  can  go  to  the  primaries  and  think  you 
are  spoiling  the  politician's  little  game.  What  do 
you  think  the  politician  has  been  doing  since  last 
election  ?  Instead  of  going  to  the  primaries  you  might 
as  well  go  to — another  place  which  politics  more 
nearly  resembles  than  anything  on  this  earth.  Per- 
haps better,  for  a  spook  devil  would  probably  be  an 
easier  task-master  than  a  politician  in  flesh  and 
blood.  You  can  do  what  you  please,  the  politician  is 
dealing  from  a  stacked  deck  and  has  the  best  of  the 
bunco  game  all  the  time. 

At  its  very  best,  an  election  is  merely  an  attempt 
to  obtain  the  opinion  of  the  majority  upon  a  given 
subject,  with  the  intention  of  making  the  minority 
submit  to  that  opinion.  This  is  in  itself  a  radical 
wrong.  The  majority  has  no  more  right,  under  Equal 
Freedom,  to  compel  the  minority,  than  has  the  minor- 
ity to  compel  the  majority.  When  a  man  votes  he 
submits  to  the  whole  business.  By  the  act  of  casting 
his  ballot,  he  shows  that  he  wishes  to  coerce  the 
other  side,  if  he  is  in  the  majority.  He  has,  conse- 
quently, no  cause  for  complaint  if  he  is  coerced  him- 
self. He  has  submitted  in  advance  to  the  tribunal, 
he  must  not  protest  if  the  verdict  is  given  against 
him.  It*  every  individual  is  a  sovereign,  when  he 
votes  he  abdicates.  Since  I  deny  the  right  of  the 


196  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

ntejority  to  interfere  in  my  affairs,  it  would  be  ab- 
surd for  ine  to  vote  and  thereby  submit  myself  to 
the  will  of  the  majority. 

Some  people  tell  us,  "If  you  don't  like  this  coun- 
try, why  don't  you  go  off  and  leave  us?"  Actually 
a  number  of  reformers  take  them  at  their  word,  and 
go  off  into  the  wilderness  and  start  colonies.  They 
think  that  the  object  lesson  of  a  colony  will  have  a 
great  effect.  So  it  does,  but  it  has  taught  a  moral 
far  different  from  that  intended  by  the  founders  of 
such  concerns.  The  Mormons  followed  this  foolish 
advice.  They  didn't  like  this  country.  They  went 
off  into  the  wilderness.  They  worked  hard  and  trans- 
formed the  desert  into  a  garden.  And  then?  Well, 
then  this  country  discovered  that  the  Mormons  were 
very  wicked,  and  that  the  Lord  never  intended  such 
wicked  men  to  possess  so  much  wealth.  So  dear 
old  Uncle  Sam,  being  a  humble  servant  of  the  Lord, 
determined  to  repair  his  Master's  oversight  and  de- 
prive those  wicked  men  of  their  power  and  money. 
Uncle  Sam  is  a  religious  old  man  withal,  especially 
if  he  can  pocket  a  few  dollars  by  his  piety! 

Others  again  assure  us  that  the  only  way  to  get 
a  bad  law  repealed  is  to  enforce  it.  But  as  long  as  a 
bad  law  is  not  enforced  it  does  no  harm.  To  be 
sure,  as  long  as  it  is  on  the  statute  books  it  may  be 
enforced  at  any  time,  and  so  do  mischief.  But  it 
is  the  enforcing  of  it  that  does  the  harm,  not  the  fact 
that  it  exists.  The  protective  tariff  is  a  bad  law, 
and  if  enforcing  it  would  repeal  it,  it  would  have 
been  dead  years  ago.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
nearly  all  the  laws.  They  are  nearly  every  one  of 
them  bad,  and  most  of  them  are  enforced,  but  they 
seem  to  thrive  on  that  method  of  repeal.  Our  sal- 
vation must  be  sought  in  other  directions. 


METHODS.  197 

Must  we  then  sit  still  and  let  our  enemies  do  as 
they  please?  By  no  means.  Three  alteratives  offer 
themselves,  active  resistance,  passive  resistance  and 
non-resistance.  The  folly  of  the  first  has  already 
been  demonstrated.  Non-resistance  is  just  as  bad. 
Unless  we  resist  tyranny,  we  encourage  it  and  become 
tyrants  by  tacitly  consenting  to  it.  But  passive  re- 
sistance still  remains.  The  most  perfect  passive  re- 
sistance has  often  been  practiced  by  the  Quakers. 
During  the  Civil  War  the  Quakers  all  absolutely  re- 
fused to  serve  in  the  army.  In  European  countries 
they  have  resisted  conscription  in  the  same  manner. 
What  could  be  done  about  it?  A  few  were  impris- 
oned, but  they  stood  firm,  and  finany,  by  passive  re- 
sistance, they  have  gained  immunity  from  this  par- 
ticular form  of  tyranny. 

The  history  of  the  Irish  agitation  is  another  ex- 
ample. As  all  familiar  with  the  situation  know,  the 
Irish  question  is  essentially  an  agrarian  question. 
The  howl  for  Home  Rule  is  purely  incidental  and 
secondary.  '  For  some  time  passive  resistance  was 
the  leading  feature  of  the  movement.  The  no-rent 
agitation  was  essentially  of  this  nature.  Tenants  re- 
fused to  pay  any  rent.  They  refused  to  have  any 
dealings  with  landlords,  or  with  those  who  helped 
them  in  any  way  or  who  paid  any  rent.  They  were 
evicted,  but  they  went  back  onto  the  land  again. 
The  British  government  was  nonplussed.  The  boy- 
cott was  a  force  that  it  could  not  crush  with  an 
army,  because  it  was  passive,  not  active  resistance. 
The  authorities  resembled  men  who  were  attempt- 
ing to  chop  their  way  through  a  river  with  an  axe. 
Every  time  they  hit  the  water,  they  got  splashed  until 
they  were  drenched,  but  the  river  was  unaffected. 
But  while  this  was  going  on  the  leaders  were  urging 


198  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

political  action.  Some  of  the  more  hot-headed  re- 
sorted to  active  resistance,  which  culminated  in  the 
murder  of  Cavendish  and  Burke.  This  demoralized 
the  Land  League  and  the  leaders  gained  their  point. 
Passive  resistance  was  abandoned  and  politics  was 
adopted  in  its  stead.  From  an  energetic  and  vigor- 
ous fight  for  a  well  defined  object,  the  Irish  move- 
ment began  to  fizzle  out  as  a  decrepit  political  issue. 
The  recent  elections  in  England,  resulting  as  they 
did  in  the  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  Home  Rule 
party,  may  be  trie  means  of  opening  the  eyes  of  the 
Irish  people  to  the  folly  of  attempting  to  gain  any- 
thing by  politics,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  Land 
League  may  once  more  become  a  power  in  the  ques- 
tion. 

Some  claim  that  the  boycott  is  invasive  and  can- 
not be  consistently  used  as  a  weapon  of  passive  re- 
sistance. What  care  I  whether  it  is  invasive  or  not, 
so  long  as  it  accomplishes  my  purpose?  The  up- 
holders of  the  present  invasive  system  must  not  tell 
me  not  to  use  invasive  weapons  to  overthrow  it. 
Let  them  abandon  invasion  first,  and  then  I  will  not 
need  to  use  such  weapons  against  it.  If  the  boycott 
is  invasive,  it  is  active  instead  of  passive  resistance 
and  its  power  is  in  no  wise  weakened.  But  for  the 
sake  of  consistency  let  us  see  to  which  category  it 
belongs. 

The  boycott  is  an  agreement  entered  into  by  sev- 
eral individuals  to  leave  some  other  person  or  persons 
severely  alone — to  refuse  to  have  any  connection  with 
them  in  a  social,  business  or  any  other  manner.  It 
is  a  conspiracy  to  do  nothing.  In  Chapter  IV.  it  was 
shown  that  a  passive  condition  can  never  be  in- 
vasive. If  it  is  non-invasive  for  one  individual  to 
refuse  to  have  anything  to  do  with  another,  how 


METHODS.  199 

does  it  become  invasive  when  several  men  refuse  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  him?  Surely  I  am  within 
my  right  under  Equal  Freedom  if  I  refuse  to  pat- 
ronize a  certain  grocer.  I  am  also  within  my  right 
if  I  persuade  others  to  pursue  the  same  line  of  con- 
duct. To  deny  this  is  to  say  that  I  must  patronize 
the  grocer  in  question,  or  if  I  do  not  patronize  him 
I  must  not  persuade  others  to  leave  him  alone,  in 
short,  I  must  not  criticize  his  actions  in  the  slight- 
est. How  can  it  be  invasive  for  me  to  persuade  an- 
other to  pursue  a  non-invasive  course  of  action?  Such 
a  proposition  is  absurd.  An  action  that  is  non- 
invasive  when  performed  by  one  person,  cannot  be- 
come invasive  by  being  performed  by  more  than  one. 
The  invasiveness  of  a  conspiracy  *  depends,  not 
upon  the  number  of  the  conspirators,  but  upon  the 
invasiveness  of  the  act  which  they  agree  to  perform. 
A  boycott  may  necessitate  a  man  removing  from 
a  certain  place,  but  it  does  not  in  any  way  deprive 
him  of  his  liberty  of  action.  He  can  go  elsewhere 
if  he  sees  fit.  His  person  is  unmolested  and  his  prop- 
erty is  still  at  his  disposal.  Where,  then,  is  invasion 
committed?  It  is  often  asserted  that  by  means  of 
the  boycott  a  man  may  b*e  compelled  to  act  in  a 
way  he  does  not  like.  True.  But  that  is  not  the 
question.  It  is  the  means,  not  the  end,  that  are  un- 
der discussion.  Some  people  can  see  no  difference 
between  killing  a  man  and  refusing  to  prevent  him 
from  committing  suicide.  To  such  as  these  the  dis- 
tinction between  invasion  and  non-invasion  does  not 
exist.  They  are  morally  color  blind.  But  to  well- 
balanced  minds  the  difference  between  doing  some- 
thing and  remaining  passive  must  be  apparent. 


*  I  use  the  word  conspiracy  advisedly.  It  originally 
meant  any  agreement,  and  not  till  recently  has  its  mean- 
ing been  restricted  to  agreements  to  invade. 


200  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

To  gain  anj'thing  by  political  methods,  it  is  first 
necessary  to  gain  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast,  and 
even  then  you  have  to  trust  to  the  integrity  of  the 
men  elected  to  office.  But  with  passive  resistance 
this  is  unnecessary.  A  good  strong  minority  is  all 
that  is  needed.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  attitude 
of  the  State  is  merely  a  crude  expression  of  the  gen- 
eral consensus  of  the  opinion  of  its  subjects.  In 
determining  this  consensus,  quality  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  as  well  as  quantity.  The  opinion 
of  one  determined  and  intelligent  man  may  far  out- 
weigh that  of  twenty  lukewarm  followers  of  the 
opposition.  "To  apply  this  consideration  to  practical 
politics,  it  may  be  true  that  the  majority  in  this  coun- 
try are  favorable,  say,  to  universal  vaccination.  It 
does  not  follow  that  a  compulsory  law  embodies  the 
will  of  the  people;  because  every  man  who  is  opposed 
to  that  law  is  at  least  ten  times  more  anxious  to  gain 
his  end  than  his  adversaries  are  to  gain  theirs.  He 
is  ready  to  make  far  greater  sacrifices  to  attain  it. 
One  man  rather  wishes  for  what  he  regards  as  a 
slight  sanitary  safeguard;  the  other  is  determined  not 
to  submit  to  a  gross  violation  of  his  liberty.  How 
differently  the  two  are  actuated!  One  man  is  will- 
ing to  pay  a  farthing  in  the  pound  for  a  desirable 
object;  the  other  is  ready  to  risk  property  and  perhaps 
life,  to  defeat  that  object.  In  such  cases  as  this 
it  is  sheer  folly  to  pretend  that  counting  heads  is  a 
fair  indication  of  the  forces  behind.  (Donisthorpe, 
Law  in  a  Free  State,  pp.  123-124.)  A  strong,  deter- 
mined and  intelligent  minority,  employing  methods 
of  passive  resistance,  would  be  able  to  carry  all 
before  it.  But  the  same  men,  being  in  a  numerical 
minority,  would  be  powerless  to  elect  a  single  man 
to  office. 


METHODS.  201 

Another  thing  must  be  remembered.  Passive  re- 
sistance can  never  pass  a  law.  It  can  only  nullify 
laws.  Consequently  it  can  never  be  used  as  a  means 
of  coercion  and  is  particularly  adapted  to  the  attain- 
ment of  Anarchy.  All  other  schools  of  reform  pro- 
pose to  compel  people  to  do  something.  For  this  they 
must  resort  to  force,  usually  by  passing  laws.  These 
laws  depend  upon  political  action  for  their  inaugura- 
tion and  physical  violence  for  their  enforcement. 
Anarchists  are  the  only  reformers  who  do  not  advo- 
cate physical  violence.  Tyranny  must  ever  depend 
upon  the  weapon  of  tyranny,  but  Freedom  can  be 
inaugurated  only  by  means  of  Freedom. 

The  first  thing  that  is  necessary,  to  institute  the 
changes  outlined  in  this  book,  is  to  convince  people 
of  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from  them.  This  means 
simply  a  campaign  of  education.  As  converts  are 
gradually  gained,  passive  resistance  will  grow 
stronger.  At  first  it  must  be  very  slight,  but  still 
it  has  its  effect.  Even  the  refusal  to  vote  does  more 
than  is  often  supposed.  In  some  States  the  number 
of  persons  who,  from  lethargy  or  from  principle,  re- 
fuse to  vote  is  large  enough  to  alarm  the  politicians. 
They  actually  talk  at  times  of  compulsory  voting. 
This  shows  how  much  even  such  a  small  amount 
of  passive  resistance  is  feared.  As  the  cause  gains 
converts  and  strength,  this  passive  resistance  can 
assume  a  wider  field.  The  more  it  is  practiced  greater 
attention  will  be  drawn  to  underlying  principles. 
Thus  education  and  passive  resistance  go  hand  in 
hand  and  help  each  other,  step  by  step,  towards  the 
goal  of  human  Freedom. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


THE  PROSPECT. 


State  Socialists  are  always  claiming  that  the  sys- 
tem they  advocate  will  soon  be  adopted  in  all  the 
leading  countries  in  the  world,  and  so  seldom  has 
anyone  protested,  that  it  is  beginning  to  be  received 
as  an  indisputable  fact.  Laurence  Gronlund  even 
goes  so  far  as  to  maintain,  "Collectivism  is  coming. 
It  is  coming  whether  you  like  it  or  not.  Do  what 
you  will  it  is  coming,  because  it  is  the  will  of  God." 
When  Mr.  Gronlund  became  the  confidential  adviser 
of  that  inscrutable  power  he  does  not  tell  us.  It  may 
be  well,  therefore,  to  enquire  into  the  general  trend 
of  modern  thought  and  see  if  this  claim  is  well 
grounded,  for  coming  reforms  always  cast  their  shad- 
ows before  them.  By  gaining  a  clear  idea  of  the  prin- 
cipal forces  at  work  in  the  reconstruction  of  society, 
we  may  be  able  to  form  some  estimate  of  the  prob- 
ability of  the  reforms  I  advocate. 

To  the  superficial  observer  the  claims  of  the  State 
Socialist  seem  to  be  warranted.  He  sees  a  strong 
tendency  in  this  direction  and  thinks  that  State  So- 
cialism is  about  to  be  adopted.  But  life  is  full  of 
tendencies  which  are'  never  completed.  The  tendency 


THE  PROSPECT.  203 

of  the  incoming  tide  is  to  submerge  the  earth.  The 
tendency  of  the  growing  tree  is  to  reach  the  sky. 
The  tendency  of  nearly  everything  is  to  do  something 
it  never  does,  and  the  tendency  towards  State  Social- 
ism is  no  stronger  than  m'any  of  these,  and  may  re- 
sult in  a  similar  manner. 

Not  many  years  ago  there  were  but  a  few  State 
Socialists  in  America.  Now  they  are  numbered  by 
thousands.  But  the  more  recent  converts  are  of  far 
different  material  from  the  older  exponents  of  this 
system.  The  latter  were  men  who  braved  public 
opinion,  sacrificed  the  much  prized  bauble — respecta- 
bility, and  often  endangered  their  chances  of  making 
a  living,  in  order  to  have  the  satisfaction  of  express- 
ing their  Socialistic  ideas.  But  they  were  so  enthusi- 
astic that  they  were  willing  to  hail  everyone  as  con- 
verts. Let  a  man  express  sympathy  wiu*  some  strik- 
ers, deplore  the  greed  of  capitalists  or  lament  the  ex- 
istence of  slums  in  our  large  cities,  and  the  first  State 
Socialist  he  met  would  fall  on  his  neck  and  call  him 
"Comrade."  Bellamy's  book  assisted  this  kind  of 
propaganda  and  it  progressed  rapidly.  Thus,  by  de- 
grees, the  State  Socialistic  agitation  degenerated  from 
a  definite  movement  for  the  collective  ownership  of 
surplus  value,  to  a  sentimental  Sunday-school  gospel 
of  free  rides,  free  novels  and  free  lunches.  It  was 
alive  and  aggressive,  it  has  become  respectable.  It 
is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  at  least  fifty  per  cent, 
of  those  who  to-day  call  themselves  State  Socialists, 
have  no  clear  idea  of  what  surplus  value  is  or  how  it 
is  created,  and  most  of  the  other  half  have  but  little 
better  mental  equipment. 

Let  some  event  happen  to  bring  State  Socialism 
into  disrepute  and  the  truth  of  these  statements 
would  be  demonstrated.  The  bomb  which  exploded 


204  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

in  Chicago  on  the  4th  of  May,  1886,  reduced  the  num- 
ber of  professed  Communists  from  thousanus  to  a  few 
scattered  groups.  A  large  multitude  escorted  the  Na- 
zarene  reformer  into  Jerusalem,  with  shouts  of  honor 
and  rejoicing.  Where  were  they  three  days  after- 
wards? This  is  ever  the  result  of  such  a  form  of 
propaganda.  Numbers  are  not  always  strength,  as 
our  State  Socialistic  friends  will  some  day  discover. 

The  mental  calibre  of  the  Neo  State  Socialists  may 
be  judged  from  their  demands.  Their  energies  are 
bent  on  gaining  governmental  control  of  "natural 
monopolies,"  free  coinage  of  silver  and  other  "re- 
forms" which  even  consistent  State  Socialists  must 
consider  reactionary.  These  men -may  be  considered 
as  State  Socialists  with  the  Socialism  left  out.  For- 
tunately their  ignorance  is  likely  to  prove  a  serious 
bar  to  the  extent  of  their  mischief.  It  is  liable  to 
disgust  the  more  intelligent  members  of  their  school, 
and  to  show  them  the  danger  of  putting  full  State 
Socialistic  powers  into  such  hands.  They  may  effect 
a  few  minor  changes,  such  as  those  above  mentioned, 
but  the  adoption  of  those  very  measures  will  block 
the  way  to  further  developments.  They  will  result 
in  placing  a  very  great  number  of  new  offices  in  the 
gift  of  the  State,  which  will  inevitably  lead,  as  shown 
above,  to  a  strengthening  of  the  powers  that  be  and 
to  perpetuating  the  statu  quo. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  revolutionists,  nearly 
all  State  Socialists  rely  upon  political  methods  to  in- 
augurate their  system.  This  is  almost  essential.  They 
have  a  system  to  force  upon  people,  and  they  cannot 
institute  it  without  force.  I  have  already  pointed 
out  the  inadequacy  of  political  methods  and,  since 
those  are  the  means  by  which  State  Socialism  is  to 
be  adopted,  I  think  we  are  fairly  safe  for  a  number 
of  years. 


THE  PROSPECT.  205 

The  existing  discontent  with  present  social  con- 
ditions is  very  great.  This  must  find  an  outlet  in 
some  direction.  If  not  in  a  move  towards  Socialism, 
then  in  a  move  Libertywards.  When  men  find  they 
cannot  adopt  their  own  pet  hobby  they  often  take  a 
substitute.  Many  of  the  substitutes  for  State  Social- 
ism are  entirely  voluntary,  and  the  be-clouded  State 
Socialists  cannot  see  the  difference.  A  little  pamphlet 
entitled  "Universal  Prosperity,"  by  Edward  Wenning, 
is  a  good  example  of  this.  In  the  beginning  of  his 
book  the  author  points  out  the  hopelessness  of  ex- 
pecting anything  from  the  government.  Then  he  pro- 
poses a  gigantic  co-operative  company.  This-  com- 
pany would  be  a  purely  voluntary  concern,  and, 
though  it  could  never  accomplish  the  results  for  which 
the  author  proposes  to  organize  it,  it  shows  a  tend- 
ency to  resort  to  voluntaryism  when  compulsion  fails. 
But  this  is  not  all.  Mr.  Wenning  actually  proposes 
to  issue  a  currency  based  upon,  and  redeemable  in, 
the  goods  of  the  company.  Several  companies  are 
being  started  by  other  State  Socialists  upon  similar 
plans,  and  many  of  them  are  adopting  Mr.  Wenning's 
currency  idea.  When  State  Socialists  are  engaged  in 
this  kind  of  work,  we  need  not  be  very  much  afraid 
of  them.  They  have  so  poor  a  conception  of  the  logic 
of  their  position,  that  they  find  themselves  fighting 
in  behalf  of  Liberty  instead  of  for  an  extension  of 
the  powers  of  the  State. 

The  free  silver  craze  has  drawn  especial  attention 
to  the  money  question.  The  governmental  plans  of  the 
Populists  have  gained  a  number  of  supporters  in  the 
Western  States.  But  these  very  men  are  most  active 
in  starting  the  co-operative  money  schemes  just  men- 
tioned. The  bitterness  with  which  they  have  been 
fighting  has  caused  the  orthodox  economists  to  as- 


206  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

suiue  a  niarvelously  individualistic  position.  Political 
economists  are  saying  that  a  legal  tender  law  is  a  relic 
of  barbarism.  College  professors  are  now  teaching  that 
over  90  per  cent,  of  the  business  of  the  country  is 
done  without  the  use  of  government  money.  Bankers 
are  advocating  a  removal  of  restrictions  on  the  issue 
of  money.  The  Democratic  party  thinks  it  can  catch 
votes  by  proposing  to  repeal  the  10  per  cent,  bank- 
note tax.  And  Cleveland  advocates  "the  absolute  di- 
vorcement of  the  government  from  the  circulation  of 
the  currency  of  the  country."  (See  Message,  3d  Dec., 
'94.) 

I  think  these  facts  show  that  there  is  a  strong 
feeling  in  the  community  that  Liberty  is  the  one  thing 
needful.  The  tendency  on  the  surface  may  appear 
to  be  towards  State  Socialism,  but  there  undoubtedly 
is  a  very  strong  undercurrent  in  the  direction  of  Free- 
dom and  it  probably  will,  if  given  time,  entirely 
change  the  direction  of  legislation. 

One  very  good  indication  of  the  tendency  of  the 
times  is  found  in  the  recent  action  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  For  several  years  the  State 
Socialists  have  been  endeavoring  to  capture  that  or- 
ganization. At  Chicago,  in  1893,  they  succeeded  in 
getting  it  to  tabulate  the  following  platform,  to  be 
submitted  for  a  referendum  vote  to  all  the  affiliated 
organizations : 

Whereas,  The  Trade  Unionists  of  Great  Britain 
have  by  the  light  of  experience  and  logic  of  progress, 
adopted  the  principle  of  independent  labor  politics 
as  an  auxiliary  to  their  economic  action,  and 

Whereas,  such  action  has  resulted  in  the  most 
gratifying  success,  and 

W^hereas,  such  independent  labor  politics  are  based 
upon  the  following  programme,  to-wit: 


THE  PROSPECT.  207 

1.  Compulsory  education. 

2.  Direct  legislation. 

3.  A  legal  eight  hour  work-day. 

4.  Sanitary   inspection   of   workshops,    mine   and 
home. 

5.  Liability   of   employers    for   injury    to   health, 
body  or  life. 

6.  The  abolition  of  contract  system. 

7.  The  abolition  of  the  sweating  system. 

8.  Municipal   ownership  of  street  cars,  and   gas 
and   electric  plants   for   public   distribution   of   light, 
heat  and  power. 

9.  The  nationalization  of  telegraphs,   telephones, 
railroads  and  mines. 

10.  The  collective  ownership  by  the  people  of  all 
means  of  production  and  distribution. 

11.  The  principle  of  referendum  in  all  legislation. 
Therefore, 

Resolved,  that  the  convention  hereby  indorse  this 
political  action  of  our  British  comrades,  and 

Resolved,  that  this  program  and  basis  of  a  politi- 
cal labor  movement  be  and  is  hereby  submitted  for 
the  consideration  of  the  labor  organizations  of 
America,  with  the  request  that  the  delegates  to  the 
next  annual  convention  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  be  instructed  on  this  most  important  subject. 

A  full  year's  time  was  allowed  for  the  various 
unions  to  consider  this  question.  Most  of  the  dele- 
gates who  attended  the  convention  held  at  Denver  in 
1894,  had  received  instructions  from  their  unions,  so 
we  must  consider  that  their  act  was  taken  with 
deliberation.  The  political  platform  was  considered 
plank  by  plank,  and  was  amended  to  read  as  fol- 
lows: 

"1.    Compulsory  education. 


208  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

"2.  Direct  legislation,  through  the  iniative  and 
the  referendum. 

"3.  A  legal  work-day  of  not  more  than  eight 
hours. 

"4.  Sanitary  inspection  of  workshop,  mine  and 
home. 

"5.  Liability  of  employers  for  injury  to  health, 
body  or  life. 

"6.  The  abolition  of  contract  system  in  all  public 
work. 

"7.    The  abolition  of  the  sweating  system. 

"8.  The  municipal  ownership  of  street  cars,  water 
works  and  gas  and  electric  plants  for  public  distribu- 
tion of  light,  heat  and  power. 

"9.  The  nationalization  of  telegraphs,  telephones, 
railroads  and  mines. 

"10.  The  abolition  of  the  monopoly  system  of  land 
holding,  and  substituting  therefor  a  title  of  occu- 
pancy and  use  only. 

"11.  Repeal  all  conspiracy  and  penal  laws,  affect- 
ing seamen  and  other  workmen,  incorporated  in  the 
federal  and  State  laws  of  the  United  States. 

"12.  The  abolition  of  the  monopoly  privilege  of 
issuing  money,  and  substituting  therefor  a  system  of 
direct  issuance  to  and  by  the  people." 

With  the  very  slight  exception  of  the  demand  for 
municipal  ownership  of  water  works,  every  change 
in  this  platform  is  indicative  of  an  increased  desire 
for  Liberty.  The  preamble  was  defeated  bodily. 
The  first  nine  planks  were  adopted  substantially  as 
they  stood,  except  the  addition  of  "water  works"  to 
No.  8  and  the  consolidation  of  No.  11  with  No.  2.  Per- 
haps all  these  nine  planks  would  not  have  been 
passed  so  easily,  had  it  not  been  for  the  sweeping 
nature  of  plank  10.  That  was  the  point  around  which 


THE  PROSPECT.  209 

the  whole  fight  raged.  It  seemed  to  be  recognized 
by  both  sides  as  the  final  test  of  their  relative 
strength.  Resolutions  in  favor  of  free  land  had  come 
in  from  all  over  the  country.  "Many  delegates  had 
received  instructions  to  vote  against  the  original 
plank.  So,  when  the  substitute  demanding  free  land 
came  to  a  vote,  it  was  carried  by  1217  to  913. 

The  new  eleventh  plank  is  clearly  a  demand  for 
more  freedom  from  State  interference.  And  while 
plank  12  is  rather  ambiguous  it  is  conspicuous  for 
the  demand  for  an  issuance  by  the  people  instead  of 
by  the  government.  This  point  assumes  greater  im- 
portance when  it  is  considered  that  the  plank  in 
question  was  submitted  by  Delegate  McCraith,  an 
acknowledged  Individualist,  and  the  one  who  led  the 
fight  for  the  substitute  to  plank  10.  I  am  also  in- 
formed that  this  money  plank  was  originally  drawn 
up  by  one,  who  is  a  recognized  leader  among  free- 
money  advocates,  and  whose  name  is  known  and  re- 
spected by  Anarchists  the  wide  world  over. 

Another  plank,  demanding  "The  national  and 
State  destruction  of  the  liquor  traffic,"  was  intro- 
duced. It  was  killed  almost  before  it  was  born,  so 
great  was  the  opposition  to  it. 

When  the  motion  to  adopt  the  planks  as  a  whole 
was  put  to  the  vote,  it  was  defeated  by  1,173  to  735. 
Thus  ended  the  attempt  of  the  State  Socialists  to 
capture  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  to  use 
it  as  a  political  machine  for  the  furtherance  of  their 
own  ends.  No,  not  ended,  for  the  action  of  the  con- 
vention has  brought  up  the  whole  question  of  Free 
Land  and  Free  Money  for  discussions  before  the 
Labor  Unions  of  the  United  States.  Hardly  an  issue 
of  any  of  the  leading  labor  papers  of  the  country  is 
now  to  be  found,  which  do'es  not  contain  at  least 


210  VOLUNTARY   SOCIALISM. 

one  article  on  one  of  these  topics.  Yes,  Mr.  Gron- 
lund,  "Collectivism  is  coming,  because  it  is  the  will 
of  God!!"  At  least,  that  seems  to  be  about  the  only 
argument  left  to  those  who  believe  in  the  inevitable- 
ness  of  State  Socialism.  The  facts  of  the  case  seem 
to  point  in  another  direction. 

Several  of  the  leaders  in  the  Woman  Suffrage 
movement  are  adopting  far  more  libertarian  views 
than  was  ever  expected  from  this  source.  At  the  last 
triennial  meeting  of  the  National  Council  of  Women 
Mrs.  Ellen  B.  Dietrick  championed  the  principle  of 
Equal  Freedom  in  unmistakable  terms.  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Cady  Stanton  declared  for  Free  Land,  and  others 
present  manifested  a  feeling  in  the  same  direction. 

Even  the  conservative  law  courts  seem  to  be  in- 
fected in  a  slight  degree,  with  the  spirit  of  modern 
progress.  My  legal  friends  inform  me,  that  it  is  more 
and  more  becoming  the  custom  to  plead  the  equity 
of  a  case  at  the  same  time  that  the  legal  points  are 
under  discussion.  As  courts  are  at  present  consti- 
tuted this  places  very  great,  and  possibly  dangerous, 
powers  in  the  hands  of  the  judge,  but  it  also  curtails 
to  the  same  degree  the  power  of  the  legislature.  The 
main  gain  from  this,  is  that  it  allows  greater  flexibil- 
ity in  the  administration  of  the  laws.  If  the  power 
to  decide  the  law  and  equity,  as  well  as  the  facts, 
was  vested  in  a  properly  constituted  jury,  the  gain 
to  Liberty  would  be  very  important.  But  failing  this, 
it  is  better  to  have  a  flexible  system  that  can  be 
adapted  to  the  especial  needs  of  each  case,  rather 
than  a  rigid  law  to  which  all  cases  must  be  made  to 
conform.  Probably  the  most  notable  example  of  this 
tendency  that  has  recently  occurred  is  the  income  tax 
decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  Neither 
side  attempted  to  make  their  case  good  on  constitu- 


THE  PROSPECT.  211 

tional  grounds.  They  did  not  take  any  clause  in  the 
constitution,  and  by  a  process  of  deductive  reason- 
ing, show  wherein  the  income  tax  law  was,  or  was 
not,  consistent  with  that  clause.  The  whole  fight 
turned  upon  the  question  of  the  justice  or  injustice 
of  the  law.  As  long  as  all  questions  of  natural  sci- 
ence have  to  be  squared  with  the  Bible,  true  progress 
in  thought  is  impossible.  Science  can  only  be  based 
upon  observed  phenomena  if  it  is  to  be  worth  any- 
thing. So  in  Sociology,  as  long  as  every  proposition 
has  to  be  in  harmony  with  a  document  that  was  writ- 
ten over  a  century  ago,  when  nearly  all  the  truths  of 
science  were  unknown,  true  progress  in  society  is  im- 
possible. It  is  only  when  each  question  can  be  re- 
ferred to  the  highest  social  expediency,  that  social 
growth  is  possible.  In  proportion  as  we  attain  cor- 
rect ideas  of  what  that  highest  social  expediency  is, 
and  its  application  to  each  question,  in  that  degree 
do  we  really  develop. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  these  remarks,  that  I 
look  for  any  immediate  adoption  of  the  views  set 
forth  in  this  book.  I  merely  mention  these  facts  to 
show  that  the  tendency  of  the  times  is  far  stronger 
in  the  direction  of  Liberty  than  is  usually  supposed. 
One  great  danger,  however,  threatens  to  overthrow 
much  of  our  labor  for  Freedom.  Whether  that  can 
be  averted  or  not,  facts  alone  can  show.  I  allude  to 
the  prospect  of  a  violent  revolution.  Agitation  is 
often  necessary  to  stir  up  discontent.  But  agitation 
must  be  followed  by  education  in  order  to  make  it 
intelligent  and  serviceable.  The  agitation  that  is 
now  being  carried  on  by  the  State  Socialists  is  so 
extensive,  and  is  reaching  such  ignorant  classes,  that 
the  necessary  education  is  left  a  long  way  behind. 
Thus  a  class  of  people,  who  daily  see  the  power  of 


212  VOLUNTARY  SOCIALISM. 

physical  force  in  all  their  occupations  and  surround- 
ings, and  who  are  too  often  incapable  of  appreciating 
the  power  of  intellect,  is  awakening  to  the  social 
injustice  which  crushes  it  to  earth.  The  great 
question  is,  can  these  people  be  induced  to  remain 
peaceful  until  they  can  be  educated  to  know  what 
will  relieve  their  distress. 

The  most  unfavorable  sign  is  the  attitude  of  the 
bourgeoisie.  It  seems  to  be  impossible  for  them  to 
realize  that  the  time  has  gone  by,  when  platitudes, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  bayonets,  on  the  other,  will 
check  the  growing  discontent.  They  are  uncon- 
sciously doing  all  in  their  power  to  precipitate  an  out- 
break, when  they  might,  by  conceding  a  little  to  pub- 
lic opinion,  manage  to  avert  a  crisis.  The  imprison- 
ment of  Debs  has  done  more  to  precipitate  a  revolu- 
tion, than  would  inflammatory  speeches  by  all  the 
Socialists  in  the  United  States.  What  the  result  of 
such  a  revolution  must  inevitably  be  was  shown  in 
the  last  chapter. 

It  is  often  asserted,  that  such  a  social  system  as 
I  advocate  is  ideal  but  eminently  impractical.  No 
social  system  is  practicable  until  people  are  convinced 
of  its  merits.  A  constitutional  monarchy  is  imprac- 
ticable in  Russia  to-day.  Is  that  any  reason  why 
those  who  believe  in  it  should  not  do  all  In  their 
power  to  make  it  an  accomplished  fact?  The  ideal 
must  be  made  practicable.  This  can  only  be  done 
by  convincing  people  that  it  is  the  ideal.  Everyone 
who  really  believes  that  a  certain  system  is  the  high- 
est ideal,  and  who  is  anxious  to  better  the  existing 
conditions,  will  keep  that  ideal  constantly  in  mind. 
Everything  that  is  in  the  direction  of  that  ideal  will 
be  helped.  Everything  that  is  opposed  to  it  will  be 
fought  bitterly.  As  the  number  of  those  who  believe 


THE  PROSPECT.  213 

in  the  ideal  increases,  the  practicability  of  the  system 
increases  also,  and  the  attainment  of  the  end  becomes 
more  sure.  We  are  willing  to  go  step  by  step  if  needs 
be,  provided  that  each  step  be  on  the  road  to 
Freedom.  But  not  one  step  will  we  move  in  the 
opposite  direction,  for  we  believe  with  John  Morley 
that  "a  small  and  temporary  improvement  may  really 
be  the  worst  enemy  of  a  great  and  permanent  im- 
provement. .  .  .  The  small  reform,  if  it  be  not 
made  with  reference  to  some  large  progressive  prin- 
ciple, and  with  a  view  to  further  extension  of  its 
scope,  makes  it  all  the  more  difficult  to  return  to  the 
right  line  and  direction  when  improvement  is  again 
demanded."  (On  Compromise,  p.  230.) 

Then  let  every  proposed  reform  be  judged  by  this 
one  principle,  is  it  an  extension  of  individual  liberty? 
On  the  answer  to  this  should  its  fate  depend.  And 
gradually  will  Freedom  be  attained.  How  long  the 
adoption  of  such  a  system  will  take  it  is  impossible 
to  say.  But  we  know  that  progress  advances  with 
ever  increasing  rapidity,  so  perhaps  we  may  hope 
for  a  relatively  speedy  betterment  of  our  condition. 


A  FEW   BOOKS    FOR   SUBSEQUENT 
READING. 


In  the  lists  of  books  here  given,  I  have  endeavored  to 
select  some  of  the  best  and  most  elementary  works  upon 
each  subject.  I  have  confined  myself  to  works  in  the 
English  language.  With  the  exception  of  "Social 
Statics,"  I  have  omitted  all  books  which  are  out  of  print. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that,  though  I  recommend 
these  books,  I  do  not  thereby  indorse  every  statement 
made  in  any  one  of  them. 

GENERAL    WORKS. 

ANDREWS,  STEPHEN  PEARL,  Science  of  society ; 

Part  i.  True  constitution  of  government  in  the 
sovereignty  of  the  individual.  Part  2.  Cost  the  limit 
of  price.  Bost,  1888.  i6sp.,  8vo.  S.  B.  Holmes. 
Cloth,  $1.00,  paper,  5oc. 

"  This  work  is  an  elaborate  exposition  of  the  teachings  of 
Josiah  Warren  by  one  of  his  foremost  disciples." 

MACKAY,  JOHN  HENRY,  The  anarchists ;  a  picture 
of  civilization  at  the  close  of  the  iQth  century.  Trans, 
from  the  German  by  George  Schumm.  Bost,  1891. 
3i5p.,  i2tno.  Tucker.  Cloth,  |i.oo;  paper,  5oc. 

While  cast  in  the  form  of  a  story,  this  hook  contains  many 
excellent  economic  arguments,  directed  principally  against  the 
communists. 

PROUDHON,  PIERRE  JOSEPH,  System  of  econ- 
omical contradictions;  or,  Philosophy  of  misery. 
Trans  from  the  French  by  Benj.  R.  Tucker,  v.  i, 
N.  Y..  469p.,  8vo.  Humboldt.  Cloth,  $2.00;  paper, 

$r.20. 

"It  discusses,  in  a  style  as  novel  as  profound,  the  problems 
of  Value,  Division  of  Labor,  Machinery,  Competition,  Mon- 
opoly, Taxation  and  Providence,  showing  that  economic 
progress  is  achieved  by  the  appearance  of  a  succession  of 


BOOKS   FOR  SUBSEQUENT   READING.  215 

economic  forces,  each  of  which  counteracts  the  evils  developed 
by  its  predecessor,  and  then,  by  developing  evils  of  its  own, 
necessitates  its  successor,  the  process  to  continue  until  a  final 
force,  corrective  of  the  whole,  shall  establish  a  stable  economic 
equilibrium." 

PROUDHON,  PIERRE  JOSEPH,  What  is  property? 

an  enquiry  into  the  principles  of  right  and  govern- 
ment; prefaced  by  a  sketch  of  Proudhon's  life  and 
works.  Trans,  from  the  French  by  Benj.  R.  Tucker. 
N.  Y.,  498p  ,  8vo.  Humboldt.  Cloth,  $2.00; 
paper,  $1.20.  {Humboldt  Library  Nos.  172-175.) 

"A  systematic,  thorough  and  radical  discussion  of  the  in- 
stitution of  property — its  basis,  its  history,  its  present  status 
and  its  destiny— together  with  a  detailed  and  startling  expose 
of  the  crimes  which  it  commits,  and  the  evils  which  it  en- 
genders." 

TUCKER,  BENJAMIN  R.,     Instead  of  a  book;   by  a 

man  too  busy  to  write  one.  A  fragmentary  exposi- 
tion of  Philosophical  Anarchism.  N.  Y.,  1893.  522 
p.,  8vo.  Tucker.  Cloth,  $1.00;  paper,  5oc. 

Principally  composed  of  discussions  reprinted  from  the 
file  of  "Liberty."  In  this  way  the  objections  of  all  classes  of 
opponents  are  met  and  answered  and  many  obscure  points 
are  made  clear.  The  best  book  for  anyone  who  wishes  to  gain 
a  clear  idea  of  the  principles  of  Anarchism. 

In  addition  to  these  works  the  following  papers  are 
very  valuable : 

••  LIBERTY."  A  fortnightly  journal  of  Philosophical 
Anarchism.  Edited  by  Benj.  R.  Tucker.  8  pages. 
{2.00  per  year.  P.  O.  Box  1312,  New  York. 

The  pioneer  of  Anarchism  in  America.  Commands  arti- 
cles from  the  pens  of  the  best  writers  upon  the  subject,  and 
contains  interesting  discussions  upon  the  various  applications 
of  its  philosophy. 

EGOISM.  A  fortnightly  Anarchistic  paper.  4  pages. 
5oc  per  year.  P.  O.  Box  366,  Oakland,  Cala. 

A  lighter  and  more  humorous  paper  than  "Liberty,"  but 
advocating  the  same  general  principles. 

EVOLUTION. 

CLODD,  EDWARD,  Story  of  creation;  a  plain 
account  of  evolution.  N.  Y.,  I29p.,  8vo.  Hum- 
boldt. Paper,  i5c.  (Humboldt  Library,  No.  no.} 

The  best  short  account  of  evolution  for  popular  reading 
yet  published. 


2l6  BOOKS   FOR   SUBSEQUENT  READING. 

CLODD,  EDWARD,    Story  of  primitive  man.    NY., 

j895.        iQop.,    il.     i6mo.       Appleton.      Cloth,    400. 
(Library  of  Useful  Stories,  No.  /.) 

An  excellent  outline  of  the  subject. 

HUXLEY,  THOMAS  HENRY,  Evidences  as  to  man's 
place  in  nature.  N.  Y.,  62p.,  8vo.  Humboldt. 
Paper,  150.  (Humboldt  Library,  No.  4} 

HUXLEY,  THOMAS  HENRY,  On  the  origin  of 
species;  or  Causes  of  the  phenomena  of  organic 
nature.  N.  Y. ,  49p.,  Svo.  Humboldt.  Paper,  150. 
(Humboldt  Library,  No.  16.} 

Prof.  Huxley's  works  need  no  recommendation  from  any 
source. 

ROMANES,  GEORGE  JOHN,  Scientific  evidence  of 
organic  evolution.  N.  Y  ,  55p  ,  8vo.  Humboldt. 
Paper,  150.  (Humboldt  Library  No.  40.} 

An  excellent  plea  for  evolution  as  opposed  to  special  crea- 
tion. 

EGOISM. 

BADCOCK,  JOHN,  Jr.  Slaves  to  duty;  a  lecture  de- 
livered before  the  South  Place  Junior  Ethical  Society, 
29th  Jan.,  1894.  Lond.,  1894.  33p.,  I2mo.  Reeves. 
Paper,  6d. 

"A  unique  addition  to  the  pamphlet  literature  of  Anarchism 
in  that  it  assnils  the  morality  superstition  as  the  foundation  of 
the  various  schemes  for  the  exploitation  of  mankind.  Max 
Stirner  himself  does  not  expound  the  doctrine  of  Egoism  in 
bolder  fashion." 

MILL,  JOHN  STUART,     Utilitarianism.   Lond.    1891. 

96p.,  Svo.     Longman.     Cloth,  5$. 
SHAW,  GEORGE  BERNARD,  Quintessence  of  Ibsen= 

ism.    Bost.,  1891.    iyop.,    i2tno.    Tucker.   Paper,  25c. 

Pronounced  by  the  London  Satutday  Review  a  "most  di- 
verting book,"  and  by  the  author,  "the'most  complete  asser- 
tion of  the  validity  of  the  human  will  as  against  all  laws,  insti- 
tutions, isms,  and  the  like,  now  procurable  for  a  quarter." 

"TAK  KAK,"  Philosophy  of  Egoism.  A  series  of  fif- 
teen articles  which  appeared  in  "Egoism,"  from 
May,  1890,  to  Dec.  1891. 

These  form  the  most  complete  exposition  of  Egoism  that 
has  ever  been  published  in  Kuglish. 

Macmillan  &  Co  advertise  "The  Works  of  Friedrich 
Nietzsche  "in  n  vols,  to  appear  in  the  spring  of  1896. 
These  will  be  invaluable  to  the  deep  student  of  Egoism. 


BOOKS   FOR  SUBSEQUENT  READING.  217 


THE  STATE. 

BAKOUNINE,  MICHAEL,  God  and  the  State.  Trans, 
from  the  French  by  Benj.  R.  Tucker.  Ed.  7.  Bost., 
1890.  52p,  8vo.  Tucker.  Paper,  I5C. 

"One  of  the  most  eloquent  pleas  for  liberty  ever  written. 
Paine's  "Age  of  Reason"  and  "Rights  of  Man"  consolidated 
and  improved.  It  stirs  the  pulse  like  a  trumpet  call." 

LETOURNEAU,  CHARLES,  Sociology;  based  upon 
ethnography.  Trans,  from  the  French  by  H.  M. 
Trollope.  New  ed.  Lond.,  1893.  634p.,  8vo.  Chap- 
man, Hall.  Cloth,  35,  6d. 

In  many  respects  the  best  outline  of  the  development  of 
human  society.  It  is  a  perfect  mine  of  information,  and  is 
written  in  a  very  readable  manner. 

SPENCER,     HERBERT,      Principles    of    Sociology. 

N.  Y.,  1888.   2  vols.,  8vo.    Appleton.    Cloth,  $4.00. 

Mr.  Spencer  stands  unequalled  as  a  writer  upon  such  sub- 
jects. The  depth  of  his  research  is  marvelous.  His  philosophic 
conception  of  the  relation  of  one  fact  to  another  has  placed  him 
in  the  front  rank  among  philosophers  of  all  ages.  Important 
though  all  his  works  are,  perhaps  the  Principles  of  Sociology 
transcends  all  the  others  in  usefulness.  Part  of  the  third  vol- 
ume is  now  appearing  serially  in  "  The  Popular  Science 
Monthly." 

EQUAL  FREEDOM. 

FOWLER,  C.  T.,  Prohibition,  or  Relation  of  govern- 
ment to  temperance.  Kansas  City.  1885.  28p.  12 
mo.  Fowler.  Paper,  6c. 

This  pamphlet  shows   "that  prohibition   cannot  prohibit 
and  would  be  unnecessary  if  it  could." 

HERBERT,  AUBERON,   Politician  in  sight  of  haven; 

being  a  protest  against  government  of  man  by  man. 
N.  Y.     Tucker.     Paper,  loc. 

SPENCER,  HERBERT,  Social  statics;  or,  Conditions 
essential  to  human  happiness  specified,  and  the  first 
of  them  developed.  With  a  notice  of  the  author. 
N.  Y.,  1862.  533p.,  8vo.  Appleton.  Cloth,  $2.00. 

One  of  Spencer's  earliest  works.  The  principle  of  equal 
freedom  is  deduced  and  explained.  This  edition  is  now  out  of 
print,  but  several  pirate  editions  are  on  the  market.  The 
Revised  edition  is  very  much  abridged  and  greatly  inferior 
to  this. 


2l8  BOOKS   FOR  SUBSEQUENT  READING. 


DEFENSE. 

SPENCER,  HERBERT,  Prison  ethics;  in,  Essays, 
scientific,  political  and  speculative,  v.  3,  pp.  152-191. 
(Also  in,  British  Quarterly  Review,  July,  1860.) 

A  plea  for  the  application  of  the  principle  of  equal  free- 
dom to  the  treatment  of  criminals. 

SPOONER,  LYSANDER,   Free  political  institutions  ; 

their  nature,  essence  and  maintenance.  An  abridge- 
ment and  rearrangement  of  "Trial  by  Jury."  Ed. 
by  Victor  Yarros.  Bost,  1890.  47p.,  8vo.  Tucker. 
Paper,  25c. 

An  historical  review  of  the  jury  system.  It  claims  for  the 
jury  the  right  to  judge  the  law  as  well  as  the  prisoner.  A 
strong  protest  against  the  tyranny  of  the  State,  of  particular 
value  in  these  days  of  "government  by  injunction." 

SPOONER,  LYSANDER,  Illegality  of  the  trial  of 
John  W.  Webster.  Bost.,  1850.  i6p.,  8vo.  Tucker. 
Paper,  loc. 

A  legal  protest  against  packing  juries  by  selecting  jurors 
and  rejecting  all  who  are  opposed  to  the  law  involved. 


VALUE  AND  SURPLUS  VALUE. 

BOEHM-BAWERK,  EUGENE  VON,  Positive  theory 
of  capital.  Trans,  with  a  preface  by  Wm.  Smart. 
Lond.,  1891.  468p.,  8vo.  Macmillan.  Cloth,  $4.00. 

A  profound  analysis  of  value.  The  original  exposition  of 
the  "Marginal  utility  theory." 

FOWLER,  C.  T.,  Cooperation  ;  its  laws  and  principles. 
Kansas  City,  1885.  28p.,  I2mo.  Fowler.  Paper,  6c. 

"An  essay  showing  Liberty  and  Equity  as  the  only  con- 
ditions of  true  co-operation,  and  exposing  the  violations  of 
these  conditions  by  Rent,  Interest,  Profit,  and  Majority  Rule." 

FOWLER,  C.  T.,  Reorganization  of  business.  Kansas 
City,  1885.  28p.,  i2mo.  Fowler.  Paper,  6c. 

"An  essay  showing  how  the  principles  of  co-operation  may 
be  realized  in  the  store,  bank  and  factory." 

The  Chapter  on  Value  in  Proudhon's  System  of  econ- 
omical contradictions,  and  Part  2  of  Andrew's  Science  of 
Society  are  very  valuable  in  this  connection. 


BOOKS  FOR  SUBSEQUENT  READING.  219 

MONEY  AND  INTEREST. 

BILGRAM,  HUGO,  Involuntary  idleness;  an  exposi- 
tion of  the  cause  of  the  discrepancy  existing  between 
the  supply  of,  and  the  demand  for,  labor  and  its 
products.  Philadelphia,  1889.  H9P-,  i6mo.  Lip- 
pin  cott.  Cloth,  5oc. 

A  remarkably  fine  analysis  of  interest,  showing  that  it  is 
due  to  the  scarcity  of  money.  It  also  shows  the  evil  results  of 
usury. 

GREENE,  WILLIAM  B.,  Mutual  banking;  showing 
the  radical  deficiency  of  the  present  circulating 
medium  and  the  advantages  of  a  free  currency.  New 
ed.  with  a  preface  by  Henry  Cohen.  Denver,  1896. 
78p.,  I2mo.  Cohen.  Paper,  ice. 

A  wonderfully  clear  exposition  of  the  theory  of  Mutual 
Banks  by  its  originator,  showing  how  interest  can  be  abolished. 

FREE  LAND. 

FOWLER,  C.  T.,  Land  tenure.  Kansas  City,  1885. 
26p.,  I2tno.  Fowler.  Paper,  6c. 

"An  essay  showing  the  governmental  basis  of  land  monop- 
oly, the  futility  of  governmental  remedies  and  a  natural  and 
peaceful  way  of  starving  out  the  landlords  " 

INGALLS,  J.  K.,  Work  and  wealth.  Bost.,  1881. 
I3p.,  8vo.  Tucker.  Paper,  isc. 

A  demand  for  free  land  as  a  basis  for  industrial  prosperity. 

SPECIAL  PRIVILEGES. 

GEORGE,    HENRY,    Protection  and  free  trade.     N. 

Y.,  1891.     2i6p.,  I2mo.     George.     Paper,  25c. 

This  has  also  been  printed  as  part  of  the  "Congressional 
Record."  A  good  plea  for  free  trade. 

TUCKER,  BENJAMIN  R.,|et  al.,  Discussion  of  the 
question  of  copyright.  Appeared  in  "Liberty" 
and  was  continued  for  several  months,  commencing 
1 3th  Dec.,  1890. 

TRANSPORTATION,  ETC. 

FOWLER,  C.  T.,  Corporations.  Kansas  City,  1885. 
28p.,  i2mo.  Fowler.  Paper,  6c. 

"An  essay  showing  how  the  monopoly  of  railroads,  tele- 
graphs, etc.,  may  be  abolished  without  the  intervention  of  the 
state." 


220  BOOKS   FOR  SUBSEQUENT   READING. 


METHODS. 

DONISTHORPE,  WORDSWORTH,  Law  in  a  free 
State.  Lond.,  1895.  324p.,  8vo.  Macmillan.  Cloth, 
$2.50. 

"  Is  offered  to  the  public  as  the  best  'nut -crackers'  the 
author  is  able  to  turn  out  of  the  workshop,"  wherewith  to 
"  crack  "  the  "  nuts  "  that  many  find  so  hard. 

MORLEY,  JOHN,  On  compromise.  Lond.,  1891. 
296p,  I2tno.  Macmillan.  Cloth,  $1.50 

Devoted  to  considering  "some  of  the  limits  that  are  set  by 
sound  reason  to  the  practice  of  the  various  arts  of  accommoda- 
tion, economy,  management,  conformity  or  compromise." 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Acquired  characteristics,  inheritance  of 

Actions,   invasive   and   non-invasive 52-56 

Alcott,  L.  M..  Moods 147 

Altruism,  absurdity  of 31-32 

Ambassadors  not  subject  to  law 70 

American  Federation  of  Labor,  platform  of . ..  206 

Anarchism,   practicability   of 212 

Arabs,  defensive  associations  among 69 

Asceticism,  origin  of 33 

Authors,  remuneration  of 150-152 

Ball,  W.  P..  use  inheritance 24 

Ballou,  A.   L.,   patents 153 

Bank  of  Exchange 109-113 

Bankers  "swap  credits" 108 

Bicycles  as  means  of  transportation 182 

— ,  insurance  of 66 

Bilgram,  H.,  quotations  from 93,  96 

Bills  of  exchange,  nature  of Ill 

Binney,  F.  A.,  People's  party 193 

"Boston  Advertiser,"  copyright  books  in  libra- 
ries      144 

Boston  police  force 63 

Boycott  non-invasive 198 

Bronte,  C.  on  retaliation 32 

Bryce,  J.     American  cities 178 

Byington,  S.  T.,  defensive  associations 69-71 


222  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Cell  growth 17 

Censorship  of  newspapers  by  postoffice 170 

Chambers  Encyclopaedia,   patents 152 

Characteristics,  accumulation  of  favorable....  19 

— ,  good  only  for  individuals 20 

Checks,   circulation  of 106 

Christians  in  pagan  countries 71 

City  government,  inefficiency  of 177 

Civil  service  reform 177 

Clearing  house  certificates 118 

—  of  Mutual  banks 117 

Clodd,  E.,  quotations  from 17,  46 

Colonies,  absurdity  of  starting 196 

Colorado  laws  prohibiting  the  issue  of  money.  121 

Commercialism   in   literature 154 

Competition  in  evolution 19 

— ,  lack  of,  causes  profit 157 

— ,   necessity   of 25 

— ,  possibility  of,  in  natural  monopolies 178 

Conscience,  nature  of 28 

Contracts  should  be  enforced 56 

Co-operation,    inadequacy   of 89,  163 

— ,  meaning  of 162 

Copyright    142-154 

— ,  absurdity  of 149 

— ,    origin   of 149 

Cost  of   acquisition 83 

-   principle'. 88 

— ,  same  as  Equal  Freedon 91 

Crane,   A.   M..   Emily   Chester 146 

Criminals,  prevention  of  procreation  among. .  23 

—  should  make  full  restitution 77 

Cripple  Creek,  postoffice  in 174 

Darwin,   C.,   conscience 29 

Debs,  E.  V.,  imprisonment  of 212 

Defence  an  unimportant  question 78 

Defensive  associations  not  States 67 

— ,  conflicts  between 69 

Degeneration 22 

Denver  police  board  war 66,  71 

— ,    street   cleaning   in 181 

— ,   water   woj*ks  in 178 

Depreciation,  Mutual  bank  notes  incapable  of 

112,   117,   120 


INDEX.  223 

PAGE. 

Destruction,  right  of 145 

Dietrick,  Mrs.  E.  B.,  Boston  police  force 64 

Donisthorpe,  W.,  power  of  the  minority 200 

Doubtful  cases  of  invasion 75 

Duty,  folly  of 27-28 

Earth's  crust,  formation  of 15 

Edison,  Thos.,  patents 153 

Education,  as  a  method  of  freedom 188,201 

Egoism  a  basis  of  ethics ,  34 

"Egoism"  (San  Francisco),  quotations  from..  37,  130 

Elevators,  insurance  of 65 

English  postoffice,  cruelty  in 177 

Environment,  effect  of 22 

Equal  Freedom,  principle  of 52 

— ,  same  as  cost  principle 91 

Equality,  occupancy  and  use  will  not  give.  . . .  132 

— ,  perfect  not  possible 166 

Ethics  of  egoism 34-37 

Evolution  applied  to  sociology 23 

— ,  various  directions  of 18 

Exchange,  complexity  of 97 

-  is  between  commodities 85 

Experience,  educational  effects  of 50 

Farmers  benefited  by  removal  of  profit 160 

Feudal  system,  origin  of 41,  128 

Fiske.  J.,  quotations  from 13,  16 

Fittest  not  necessarily  the  best 21 

Flexibility  in  laws,  advantage  of 210 

Force  to  abolish  the  State 187 

Free  trade 140 

Free  will  incompatible  with  social  science.  ...  26 

Freedom,  gradual  increase  of 43 

--  necessarily  limits  itself 52 

— ,  necessity  of,  unrestrained 50 

Genius,  wages  of 168 

God,  duty  towards 27 

Greeley,  Colo.,  prohibition  in 125 

Greene,  Win.  B.  Mutual  banks 115 

Gronlund,  L.,  imminence  of  collectivism 202 

Happiness  the  aim  of  all 27-30 

Holland,  Judge,  origin  of  copyright 150 

Howells,  Wm.  D.,  Dr.  Breen's  Practice 146 

Huxley,  T.  H.,  genesis  of  life 16 


224  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Ideas,   expression  of 149 

— ,  property  in,  absurdity  of 142 

— ,  injustice  of 145 

— ,  Spencer's  qualification  of 148 

Ignorance,   protection   of 142 

Improvements  on  land  under  Single  tax 135 

Industrial  conditions,  existing,  deficiency  of. ..  9 

-  type  of  society 43-45 

Insurance  companies,   work  of 64-66 

Intellect,    economic   rent   of 168 

Interest,  cause  of 97-99 

,  definition  of 96 

-  impossible  with  Mutual  banks 118 

Interference,   folly  of 36 

Invasion,  doubtful  cases  of 75 

— ,  indirect,  must  not  be  punished 54 

Inventions  not  made  by  one  man 145 

Irish   land   a  gitation 197 

Johnson,  T.  L.,  tax  on  bank  notes 191 

"Judge,"  copyright  of 144 

Jury    system 73 

Karr,  A.,  literary  property 143 

Kuner  Pickle  Co.,  scrip  of 106 

Labor,  different  degrees  of 166 

-  may  be  spoken  of  in  the  abstract 85 

value,   definition   of %  .  84 

Land  and  wealth,  difference  between 123 

League,  methods  of 197 

— ,   productivity   of 126 

— ,  property  in,   argument  for 130 

tenure,  change  in,  hardship  of 132 

,  history  of 127 

— ,  necessity  for 83 

— ,  title  in  usufruct 129 

Landlords,    crimes   of 131 

Law  courts,  progress  in 210 

Laws,   enforcing  of 196 

— ,  inadequacy  of,  in  finance 102 

-  should  be  flexible 210 

Legal  tender 103 

Legislation  under  Anarchy 72 

Letourneau,   C.,   quotations  from 39,  129 

Libraries,   copyright  books  in 144 

Licenses    .          141 


INDEX.  225 

Life,  genesis  of 15-17 

Literature,  commercialism  in 154 

Machinery,  labor-saving,  an  advantage 170 

— ,  development  of,  effects  natural  monop- 
olies   181 

Majority  rule,  injustice  of: 195 

Malthus,  Darwin  indebted  to 20 

Margin  of  utility  theory 80-82 

Marx,  K.,  nature  of  the  State 187 

Merchants'    police 64 

Middlemen,  necessity  for 161 

Militant  type  of  society. 40 

,  reversion  to,  in  America 47 

Mill,  J.  S.,  quotations  from 28,  35 

Minority,   power  of 200 

Missing  links ." 18 

Money  a  title  to  wealth 101 

— ,  definition  of 93 

-  must  be  redeemed 94 

— ,  necessity  for 83 

-  not  really  lent 108 

-  of  account,  impracticability  of 106 

— ,  purchasing  power  of 99 

—  question,  interest  in,  at  present 205 

-  redeemed  in  goods 107 

— ,  requisites  of 94 

— ,  restrictions  on  the  issue  of 104 

-  valuable  for  what  it  will  purchase 86 

Monopolists   precipitating  a   revolution 212 

Morely,  J.,  temporary  reforms 213 

Mormons,    injustice   to 196 

Mutual  bank,  laws  against 121 

-  money  advocated  by  State  Socialists. .  205 

-  not  redeemed  in  security  pledged 117 

— ,  security  of 111,117 

— ,  volume  of 121 

— ,  plan  for 115 

Natural  monopolies,  insufficiency  of  State  own- 
ership  of 183 

-  selection,  meaning  of 20-21 

Nebula  hypothesis 13-15 

— ,    origin   of 13 

Necessitarianism    27 

—  a  deduction  from  Egoism 29 


J 


226  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Occupancy  and  use,  definition  of 138 

-  the  title  to  land li't) 

Occupations,  possibility  of  changing K>7 

Organization,  necessity  of,  in  primitive  society  39 

— ,  rigidity  of 183 

( Originality,  nature  of 14,1 

I  »n  ssive  resistance 197 

Patents  142-15-1 

— ,  nature  of 152 

Patriotism  results  from  revolution 190 

Pedigree  of  ideas 33 

People's  party,  corruption  of 193 

Philanthropy,  evils  of 25 

Pinkertons  better  than  regular  police 67 

Planets,  origin  of 13 

Police,  conflicts  among,  to-day 71 

-  forces,  cost  of 62 

Policemen,  London,  strike  among 185 

Political    methods 191 

Politics,  complexity  of 194 

— ,  corruption  of 192 

Positive  regulation  inconsistent  with  freedom.  53 

Postofflce,  deficit  of 175 

— ,  inefficiency  of 172 

— ,  strike  in 184 

Practicability  of  Anarchism 212 

Press,  censorship  of 176 

— ,  freedom  of 58 

Printed  matter,  postoffice  rates  on 175 

Prison  ethics 76-78 

Profit,  definition  of 84,  155 

—  depends  upon  rent  and  interest 158 

Property,  basis  of 124 

-  in  ideas.     Sec  Ideas,  property  in. 

-  in  land,  absurdity  of 124 

— ,  argument  for 130 

Protective   tariff 140 

Proudhon,  P.  J.,  Bank  of  Exchange 109-113 

Publishing,   cost   of 150 

Quantity  theory  of  money 99 

Reforms,    temporary 213 

Religion,  benefit  of,  to  the  State 45 


INDEX.  227 
PAGii. 

Kent,  decrease  of.  under  freedom 130 

— ,   law   of 125 

— ,    origin   of 129 

Responsibility,  necessity  for  individual 30 

Restraint,    folly    of 50 

Retaliation,  advantages  of. 32 

Revolution 188 

— ,    danger  of 211 

— ,  effect  of 189 

Rulers,  superstitious  regard  for 41 

Sacrifice  of  immediate  to  remote  happiness...  30 

Scrip   money 100 

Second  class  mail  matter 170 

Security  from  clearing  houses 118 

-  of  laud  tenure,  necessity  for 130 

Sentimentalism,   danger  of 10 

Sexual    selection 20 

Single  tax 133-130 

Social  science,  study  of 9 

Socialism,  definition  of 88 

Species,    development   of,    dependent   on   indi- 
viduals   20 

Speech,  freedom  of 58 

Spencer,   H.,   quotations   from 

22,  33,  42,  52,  92,  124,  130,  142,  148,  183 

Standard  of  value 59,  119 

State,  abolition  of 187 

— ,  necessary  to  progress 60 

— ,  crimes  of 57-00 

—  depends  upon  God 45-46 

— ,  evil  of,  in  finance 114 

-  is  founded  in  violence 39,  48 

— ,   nature  of 187 

-  not  a  defensive  institution 62 

-  officers,  honesty  of,  under  Single  tax 134 

— ,   origin   of 38-41 

-  ownership  of  natural  monopolies,  'insuffi- 
ciency of 183 

-  Socialism,   danger  of 202 

— ,   growth   of 203 

Strangers,  defence  of 68 

Street  cars  in  Denver.  ; 179 

cleaning  in  Denver 181 

Strikes  under  State  ownership 184 


228  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

"Sun,"    New    York,    cruelties   of   English   post- 
office    177 

Supply  and   demand 80,  82 

Surplus    value 8(J 

— ,   extent  of 160 

Survival  of  the  fittest,  meaning  of 20-21 

Tax  on  bank  notes 121 

Taxes,   inconsistent  with  freedom 57 

—  the  same  as  rent 129 

Terrorism    -  190 

Truck    stores 105 

Tucker,  B.  R.,  quotations  from 60,  75,  88,  150,  173 

"Twain,    Mark,"  literary  coincidences 146 

United  States,  growth  of  militancy  in 47 

-  tax  on  bank  notes 121 

Use  inheritance 24 

-  value,  definition  of 80 

Utility,  various  degrees  of 80 

Value,   different  kinds  of 79-80 

,  money  must  possess 94 

-  of  land 125-127 

Variation,  necessity   of 22 

Vice,    restraint  of 55 

Vital    force 17 

Volume  of  Mutual  bank  notes ,. ..       121 

Voting  an  abdication  of  sovereignty 195 

Wages,  equality  of,   under  freedom 166 

-  of  superintendence 156 

-  will  increase  in  absence  of  profit 159 

Wanamaker,  J.,  as  postmaster  general 173 

War,  importance  of,  in  primitive  society 40 

-  increases  militancy 44 

Water  works  in  Denver 178 

Wells,  Fargo  £  Co.  as  mail  carriers 173 

Wenning,  E.,  money  scheme  of 205 

Wichita,  postoffice  in 

Wild  cat  money  due  to  State  interference ....  114 

Woman  suffragists,  radicalism  among 210 

Wright,  A.  W.,  legal  tender 103 

Wright,  C.  D.,   quotations  from 90,  161 

Young,  A.,  security  of  tenure  in  land 136 


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